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Sevtiou  if"  974 


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LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

VOLUME  II 


PAGE 

Place  of  the  Saviour’s  Baptism,  River 

Jordan  .....  Frontispiece 

Tiberias  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee  .  .  316 

Ruins  of  the  Christian  Church  at  El  Bireh, 

the  Ancient  Beeroth  .  .  .  342 

Shechem  (Nabulus)  .....  360 

Jacob’s  Well  ......  388 

Garden  of  Gethsemane  ....  460 

Golden  Gate,  Jerusalem  ....  474 

Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  .  .  .  490 


a. 


CHAPTER  XL 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 

It  is  a  great  temptation  to  linger  in  Jerusalem,  endeav¬ 
oring  to  realize  the  sacred  employments  of  the  Child 
J esus  during  the  celebration  of  His  first  passover,  to  trace 
the  order  of  the  services  of  the  Temple  in  which  He 
would  doubtless  be  engaged,  and  to  gather  from  history 
and  tradition  the  names  of  the  distinguished  persons  He 
may  have  seen,  or  with  whom  He  may  actually  have 
come  in  contact.  These  things  lie  beyond  the  scope  of 
this  work,  which  seeks  to  illustrate  the  life  of  Christ 
only  in  its  relations  to  the  Land  in  which  He  wore  the 
veil  of  our  humanity.  Therefore,  a  single  incident  which 
has  been  preserved  for  us  in  the  Gospels  can  alone  be 
recorded  here. 

The  days  of  religious  occupation  were  over.  The  pil¬ 
grims  had  partaken  of  the  Passover  with  all  prescribed 
formalities,  and  at  length  set  out  on  their  return  to  Naz¬ 
areth,  retracing  their  steps  backward  along  the  route  we 
have  already  described.  To  escape  the  great  heat  of 
the  day,  they  would  probably  set  out  at  night,  and  they 
would  not  be  alone.  A  whole  caravan  of  pilgrims  would 
be  crowding  the  road  at  the  same  time,  scattering  to  their 
dwellings  in  Northern  Judea,  Gilead  and  Galilee.  At 
difficult  and  narrow  parts  of  the  way  the  confusion  would 

be  bewildering.  Camels,  asses  and  pilgrims  on  foot 

(269  ) 


270 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


would  be  thronged  together,  not  without  danger  some¬ 
times  of  the  weak  being  trampled  under  foot  by  the 
crowd.  As  they  advanced,  and  the  branching  roads  were 
taken  by  one  party  after  another,  the  press  would  become 
less  confusing  and  less  dangerous,  but  all  would  be  glad 
to  reach  their  first  halting-place,  at  or  beyond  Khan 
Hadrur,  the  Inn  of  the  Good  Samaritan.  F amilies  which 
had  become  separated  in  the  confusion  would  expect  to 
be  reunited  at  the  appointed  place  of  rest  j  but  Joseph 
and  Mary  were  distressed  to  find  that  Jesus  was  nowhere 
in  the  company.  Failing  to  find  him,  and  having  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  He  had  gone  beyond  the  place  ap¬ 
pointed  for  their  first  encampment,  they  returned  in  great 
anxiety  to  Jerusalem,  where  they  arrived  in  the  after¬ 
noon  or  evening  of  the  second  day,  and  on  the  third  day 
they  set  out  to  seek  him  in  the  courts  of  the  Temple. 

There  they  found  him  in  one  of  the  Temple  schools 
adjoining  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  where  it  was  cus¬ 
tomary  for  the  rabbis  to  instruct  the  people  and  espe¬ 
cially  the  youths  of  Israel.  These  schools  were  a  charac¬ 
teristic  institution  of  the  times.  The  rabbi  sat  on  a  high 
seat  or  dais,  surrounded  by  his  pupils,  who  were  seated 
on  the  ground,  studying  the  law  and  asking  questions  of 
the  rabbi.  Their  teacher  answered,  not  out  of  his  own 
thought  but  according  to  rabbinical  tradition,  which  had 
become  as  sacred  as  the  law  itself.  The  students  were 
not  all  children  by  any  means.  The  school  of  a  cele¬ 
brated  rabbi  was  sure  to  be  thronged  by  eager  hearers, 
and  even  by  other  rabbis  who  desired  to  hear  their  illus¬ 
trious  brother  and  were  glad  to  join  in  the  questioning 
and  answering  which  were  the  principal  exercises.  In 
the  school  in  which  Jesus  was  found  it  is  likely  that  many 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


271 


rabbis  would  be  present,  because  many  of  them  would  be 
in  the  city  attending  the  Passover  and  the  schools  would 
afford  their  best  opportunity  of  associating  with  each 
other.  u  The  gentle  Hillel,  the  Looser/’  says  Dr.  Geikie, 
“  was  perhaps  then  alive,  and  may  possibly  have  been 
among  them.  The  harsh  and  strict  Shammai,  the  Binder, 
his  old  rival,  had  been  long  dead.  Hillel’s  son,  Rabban 
Simeon,  and  even  his  greater  grandson,  Gamaliel,  the 
future  teacher  of  St.  Paul,  may  have  been  of  the  number, 
though  Gamaliel,  like  Jesus,  would  then  be  only  a  boy. 
Hannan  or  Annas,  son  of  Seth,  had  just  been  appointed 
High  Priest,  but  did  not  likely  see  Him,  as  a  boy,  whom 
he  was  afterward  to  crucify.  Apart  from  the  bitter  hos¬ 
tility  between  the  priests  and  the  rabbis,  he  would  be  too 
busy  with  his  monopoly  of  doves  for  the  Temple  to  care 
for  the  discussions  of  the  schools  ;  for  he  owned  the  dove- 
shops  on  Mount  Olivet,  and  sold  doves  for  a  piece  of  gold, 
though  the  law  had  chosen  them  as  offerings  suited  for 
the  poorest.” 

None  of  these  learned  men  knew  or  dreamed  who 
He  was  whom  they  were  questioning  and  answering; 
but  the  rabbis  in  general  cherished  an  extraordinary 
reverence  for  the  sayings  of  children.  They  were 
accustomed  to  say  that  “the  Word  of  God,  out  of 
the  mouths  of  children,  is  to  be  received  as  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Sanhedrin,  or  of  Moses,  or  of  the  Blessed 
God  Himself and  yet  we  are  told  that  anything  like  for¬ 
wardness  in  boys  was  specially  distasteful  to  them.  We 
may  understand,  then,  that  the  unrecorded  speech  of  Jesus 
with  the  rabbis  in  the  Temple  school  struck  them  at  once 
by  its  modesty  and  its  wisdom.  He  was  wiser  than  his 
teachers,  but  his  wisdom  charmed  and  did  not  offend  them. 


272 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


Here  then  Joseph  and  Mary  found  Jesus,  and  Mary 
was  the  first  to  address  him.  u  My  Son,”  she  said,  u  why 
hast  thou  thus  treated  us  ?  Behold  thy  father  and  I 
have  been  seeking  thee  in  great  anxiety.”  It  was  in 
answer  to  this  address  that  the  first  recorded  words  of 
Jesus  Christ  were  spoken  :  u  Why  was  it  that  ye  sought 
Me  ?”  he  asked,  as  though  they  ought  to  have  had  no 
doubt  where  they  would  find  Him.  u  Did  ye  not  know 
that  I  must  be  about  my  Father’s  business  VJ  We  may 
suppose  that  Jesus  laid  a  peculiar  emphasis  upon  the  pro¬ 
nouns  of  these  two  sentences.  Mary  and  Joseph  knew 
many  things  which  in  the  home  in  Nazareth  had  been 
silently  ignored,  and  had  perhaps  been  practically  for¬ 
gotten.  Jesus  was  now  fast  growing  out  of  childhood. 
By  the  custom  of  his  nation  He  had  recently  been  rec¬ 
ognized  as  a  man.  It  was  no  longer  right  that  the 
solemn  and  marvellous  facts  of  his  birth  should  be  dis¬ 
regarded.  He  desired  to  recall  those  facts  to  their  re¬ 
membrance,  and  at  the  same  time  to  intimate  his  own 
knowledge  of  them.  So  He  asked,  u  Did  ye  not  know 
that  I  must  be  about  my  Father’s  business  ?”  One  would 
suppose  that  these  words  would  have  pierced  them  like  a 
sword  5  but  the  force  of  habit  is  so  strong,  and  the  Child 
had  ever  been  so  submissive  to  them,  that  they  did  not 
understand  the  gentle  intimation  and  the  still  gentler 
warning  He  had  conveyed  to  them.  We  are  told  that 
u  they  understood  not  the  saying  which  He  spake  unto 
them,”  u  Strange  and  mournful  commentary,”  says 
Archdeacon  Farrar,  “  on  the  first  recorded  words  of  the 
youthful  Saviour,  spoken  to  those  who  were  nearest  and 
dearest  to  him  on  earth !  Strange,  but  mournfully  pa¬ 
thetic  :  6  He  was  in  the  world,  and  the  world  was  made 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA.  273 

by  him,  and  the  world  knew  him  not.  He  came  unto 
his  own,  and  his  own  received  him  not.7  77 

But  though  no  one,  not  even  the  Blessed  Virgin,  knew 
or  received  him  for  what  He  was,  He  had  come  to  know 
himself,  to  understand  why  He  was  thus  sojourning  in 
the  world  that  He  had  made,  and  He  declined  nothing 
belonging  to  his  mission.  After  this  single  intimation 
of  his  sense  of  a  peculiar  and  divine  relation  to  the 
Father  of  all  men,  He  was  still  content  to  fulfill  the  duty 
of  a  child  to  his  earthly  parents.  In  all  sweetness  of 
simplicity  and  childlike  obedience,  He  resumed  his  habit¬ 
ual  submissiveness.  “He  went  down  with  them,  and 
came  to  Nazareth,  and  was  subject  unto  them.’7  There 
in  the  cottage  home  on  the  hill-side  of  Nazareth,  He 
dwelt  in  silence  and  obscurity  for  eighteen  peaceful  years, 
concerning  which  we  know  absolutely  nothing. 

During  those  years  another  child  was  growing  up  to 
manhood  in  a  priestly  family  at  Hebron  or  Juttah,  near 
the  southern  boundary  of  the  Holy  Land.  John  was  six 
months  older  than  Jesus,  and  although  we  know  nothing 
of  his  childhood  or  his  youth,  we  do  know  from  the  whole 
course  of  his  later  history  what  must  have  been  the  bent 
of  his  spiritual  development.  At  the  time  of  his  birth 
Israel  had  ceased  to  be  an  independent  nation.  Its  throne 
was  occupied  by  an  Idumean  vassal  of  Rome.  Some  of 
the  people  had  submitted  in  good  faith  to  the  conqueror, 
and  saw  no  hope  in  the  future  otherwise  than  by  cultiva¬ 
ting  the  favor  of  the  Herods.  These  Herodians  were 
naturally  honored  and  employed  by  the  reigning  family, 
but  by  the  mass  of  their  own  people  they  were  regarded 
as  traitors  to  God  and  to  Israel.  In  the  excess  of  help¬ 
less  loyalty  the  body  of  the  people  admired  and  praised 

18 


274 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


the  sect  of  the  Pharisees  which  practiced,  or  pretended, 
a  minuteness  in  their  observance  of  the  national  law  far 
surpassing  the  earlier  traditions  of  their  race.  Some 
there  were  who  cherished  the  hope  of  a  successful  rebel¬ 
lion,  but  they  were  chiefly  to  be  found  among  the  law¬ 
less  and  dangerous  classes  of  the  provinces  and  among 
the  poor  who  had  little  to  lose  except  their  lives,  and 
who  to  do  them  justice  seem  to  have  valued  their  lives 
but  lightly.  There  were  others  to  whom  the  state  of 
their  country  seemed  to  be  utterly  hopeless,  and  who 
looked  for  nothing  larger  than  their  own  personal  salva¬ 
tion  through  a  rigor  of  legal  observance  which  surpassed 
that  of  the  Pharisees  themselves.  The  Essenes,  as  they 
were  called,  in  their  anxiety  to  escape  every  occasion  of 
ceremonial  uncleanness,  forsook  the  ordinary  habitations 
of  men,  and  either  singly  or  more  frequently  in  colonies 
betook  themselves  to  the  wilderness  of  Judea.  There 
in  caves  of  the  earth  or  in  rude  habitations  reared  for 
their  use  they  dwelt  apart,  and  though  these  colonists  did 
not  invariably  renounce  marriage  even  their  family  lives 
were  thoroughly  ascetic.  Solitary  anchorites  lived  on 
the  scanty  herbs  of  the  hill-side,  and  secured  themselves 
against  defilement,  even  from  nature,  by  bathing  twice 
and  thrice  a  day  j  the  colonists  lived  under  strict  rules, 
and  were  extremely  and  punctiliously  regular  in  their 
times  of  bathing  and  changing  their  apparel.  Through¬ 
out  the  day  they  labored  in  the  field,  caring  for  their 
cattle  and  bees  and  so  providing  for  their  own  mainte¬ 
nance  while  avoiding  the  necessity  of  trading  with  others. 
Coined  money  they  would  hardly  touch  because  it  bore 
an  image,  in  violation  as  they  thought  of  the  Second 
Commandment.  They  admitted  no  uninitiated  person  to 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


275 


their  company  lest  he  might  bring  defilement  upon  them. 
Their  novices  were  not  accounted  clean  until  after  a  three 
years’  probation,  during  which  they  were  required  to 
practice  all  the  austerities  of  the  initiated.  The  Sabbath 
of  course  was  strictly  observed  and  the  Scriptures  were 
constantly  studied.  That  these  men  were  sincerely  de¬ 
vout  there  can  be  no  question,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that 
their  lives  were  more  than  negatively  virtuous.  At  their 
admission  to  the  sect  they  promised  u  that  they  would 
honor  God,  that  they  would  be  righteous  toward  men, 
doing  no  wrong  to  any  man ;  that  they  would  hate 
evil  and  do  good  ;  that  they  would  be  faithful  to  all  men, 
and  especially  to  those  in  authority ;  that  they  would 
speak  the  truth  and  expose  falsehood ;  and  that  they 
would  be  honest  men,  neither  committing  direct  theft  nor 
taking  unrighteous  gain.”  Their  property  was  held  in 
common  ;  slavery  was  forbidden  among  them  ;  they  took 
no  oaths  except  the  oath  of  their  initiation ;  they  abjured 
and  abhorred  war ;  and  they  renounced  animal  food  be¬ 
cause  +he  law  said,  u  Thou  shalt  not  kill.”  They  did  not 
seek  to  enrich  their  communities  by  means  of  trade,  and 
did  not  trade  at  all,  except  so  far  as  was  necessary  to 
supply  their  frugal  wants,  and  that  they  did  by  exchange, 
not  by  money  purchase  or  sale.  The  weakness  of  the 
Essenes  consisted  in  this,  that  they  considered  the  moral 
and  the  ceremonial  law  to  be  equally  important,  so  that 
the  least  failure  to  obey  a  ceremonial  requirement  seemed 
to  them  to  be  as  grave  a  fault  as  to  commit  a  crime. 

The  Essenes  were  scattered  through  the  eastern  part 
of  the  Wilderness  of  Judea,  which  was  properly  called 
Jeshimon ,  The  Solitude.  In  Holy  Scripture  the  word 
wilderness  does  not  always  mean  a  desert.  In  our  Eng- 


276 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


lish  version  it  often  signifies  a  pastoral  plain  over  which 
the  migratory  shepherds  were  wont  to  lead  their  flocks 
from  place  to  place,  so  that  they  might  always  be  in 
u  pastures  new.”  It  was  in  such  u  pastures  of  the  wil¬ 
derness  ”  that  the  patriarchs  spent  their  lives,  and  in  the 
same  pastures  the  Arabs  now  feed  their  flocks.  But  no 
such  signification  can  be  applied  to  the  gloomy  and 
dreary  region  of  Jeshimon,  the  Solitude  of  Judea.  It 
extends  southward  from  Jericho  along  the  western  side 
of  the  Dead  Sea,  with  an  average  width  of  from  fifteen 
to  twenty-five  miles,  and  just  beyond  its  western  bound¬ 
ary  lie  Jerusalem,  Bethlehem  and  Hebron.  It  is  full  of 
white,  steep,  rugged  ridges,  which  are  seamed  with  the 
courses  of  innumerable  winter  torrents,  and  between 
many  of  them  lie  broad,  flat  valleys  of  soft,  white  marl, 
strewn  with  flints  and  having  a  pebbly  torrent-bed  in  the 
middle.  There  are  no  trees  j  hardly  a  shrub  is  to  be 
seen.  The  valleys  are  like  the  dry  basin  of  a  former 
sea,  scoured  by  the  rains  and  washed  down  in  places  to 
the  hard  foundation  of  metamorphic  limestone  which  un¬ 
derlies  the  district  and  forms  precipices  2000  feet  high, 
overhanging  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea.  Such  in  sub¬ 
stance  is  the  description  of  Captain  Conder,  taking  his 
view  of  the  wilderness  nine  miles  south  of  Bethlehem. 

Thirty  miles  south  of  Captain  Conder’s  point  of  view 
Dr.  Tristram  gives  a  similar  account.  He  says,  u  For 
two  hours  the  ascent  was  rocky  and  slippery,  and  gen¬ 
erally  we  had  to  lead  our  horses  till  we  entered  upon  the 
South  Wilderness  of  Judea.  Our  course  lay  northwest, 
and  for  another  hour  nothing  could  surpass  the  mountain 
range  in  repulsive  desolation.  Rocks  there  were,  great 
and  small,  stones  loose  and  sharp,  but  no  other  existing 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


277 


tiling.  Occasionally  in  the  deep  depression  of  a  small 
ravine,  a  few  plants  of  salsola  or  retem  struggled  up,  but 
this  was  all ;  and  we  only  saw  one  rockchat  and  two 
desert  larks.  Almost  sudden  was  the  transition  to  the 
upland  wilderness,  the  c  Negeb 7  or  South  Country — a 
series  of  rolling  hills  clad  with  scanty  herbage  here  and 

there,  especially  on  their  northern  faces . Nothing 

can  be  barer  than  the  South  Country  of  Judah.  It  is 
neither  grand,  desolate,  nor  wild,  but  utter  barrenness — 
not  a  tree  nor  a  shrub,  but  scant  stunted  herbage,  covered 
with  myriads  of  white  snail  of  five  or  six  species,  which 
afford  abundant  sustenance  of  the  thousands  of  birds 
which  inhabit  it.  It  is  the  very  country  for  camel  brows¬ 
ing,  quite  unlike  any  we  had  hitherto  traversed,  but  some¬ 
times  reminding  one  of  the  best  parts  of  the  Sahara.” 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  this  dreary  wilderness,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  spots,  has  never  been  cultivated. 
As  Dr.  Tristram  elsewhere  says,  it  seems  to  have  been 
always  destitute  of  trees,  and  except  an  old  fort  here  and 
there,  scarcely  any  traces  of  former  permanent  habita¬ 
tions  can  be  found.  Its  wadys,  or  valleys,  for  the  most 
part  have  only  occasional  and  scanty  supplies  of  water 
running  eastward  to  the  Dead  Sea,  and  near  its  shore 
cutting  to  amazing  depths  through  the  soft  limestone. 
The  general  slope  of  the  country  is  downward  toward  the 
sea,  where  it  breaks  off  in  precipitous  crags  beetling 
above  the  waters  below.  Here  and  there  however  at 
the  mouths  of  the  wadys  and  ravines  are  little  embayed 
spots  of  surpassing  fertility  where  towns  have  formerly 
stood.  Their  climate  is  tropical,  as  the  surface  of  the 
sea  is  depressed  1300  feet  below  the  level  of  the  Medi¬ 
terranean  and  Red  Seas,  making  the  temperature  ex- 


278 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


tremely  warm  ;  so  that  the  products  of  these  spots,  animal 
and  vegetable,  are  for  the  most  part  entirely  different 
from  the  indigenous  forms  of  life  in  the  rest  of  the  country. 

When  John  the  Baptist  grew  to  manhood,  he  seems  to 
have  had  no  tendency  to  unite  with  any  of  the  sects  into 
which  his  countrymen  and  fellow-religionists  had  divided 
themselves.  For  the  self-interested  and  truckling  Herod- 
ians  he  could  have  no  respect,  but  for  the  poor  Jews 
whose  necessities  had  compelled  them  to  take  office  under 
the  existing  government  he  had  more  pity  than  reproba¬ 
tion.  With  the  wild  and  lawless  agitators  who  avowed 
their  desire  for  a  rebellion  and  whose  professed  patriotism 
was  often  the  cloak  of  an  actual  life  of  robbery,  it  was 
impossible  that  he  should  sympathize.  From  the  Essenes 
of  the  wilderness,  he  had  perhaps  learned  to  hate  war 
and  to  pity  the  fate  even  of  the  Roman  soldier,  but  he 
had  not  been  attracted  by  the  superstitious  and  excessive 
ceremonialism  of  the  anchorites.  He  felt  that  the  re¬ 
generation  of  Israel,  if  it  could  be  brought  about  at  all  as 
he  believed  it  could  and  would,  must  be  first  and  chiefly 
if  not  exclusively  an  inward  regeneration  exhibited  in 
thorough  amendment  of  the  outward  conduct.  The  cere¬ 
monialism  of  the  Essenes,  who  had  separated  from  man¬ 
kind,  could  produce  no  such  reformation.  The  pretended 
devotion  of  the  Pharisees,  which  was  as  thoroughly  formal 
as  that  of  the  Essenes  without  one  particle  of  their  inward 
and  self-denying  piety,  could  bring  nothing  better  than 
spiritual  dry-rot  upon  their  disciples.  When  he  grew 
up  to  manhood  he  felt,  like  so  many  other  great  spiritual 
leaders  of  the  Orient,  that  he  must  retire  into  the  solitude 
of  the  wilderness  and  there  meditate  upon  the  word  of 
God  he  had  been  appointed  to  deliver  to  the  men  of  his 


TI-IE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


279 


generation.  Into  the  wilderness  therefore  he  went,  clad 
in  the  simple  and  coarse  garments  of  the  Bedouin,  his 
clothing  being  made  of  camel’s  hair  and  his  loins  girded 
with  a  belt  of  sheepskin.  He  required  no  dainties.  His 
food  was  of  the  coarsest.  Locusts  and  wild  honey,  with 
a  drink  of  water  from  some  brook  or  spring,  were  the 
sole  fare  of  the  predestined  prophet.  How  long  he  dwelt 
in  the  wilderness  we  do  not  know ;  but  the  scene  of  a  life 
so  self-denying  and  lofty,  and  of  meditations  so  austere 
and  so  sublime,  is  well  worthy  of  examination.  Over  a 
part  of  it  then  we  may  quickly  glance. 

The  route  we  have  already  traced  from  Jericho  to 
Jerusalem  is  really  within  the  Judean  Wilderness  j  and 
if  we  leave  Jerusalem  by  the  way  of  the  Kedron  Valley, 
journeying  over  a  different  road  toward  the  southeast, 
we  come  in  something  more  than  three  hours  to  one  of 
the  most  picturesque  of  all  the  many  monasteries  of 
Palestine,  the  Convent  of  Mar  Saba.  All  along  the 
Kedron  Valley  may  be  seen  hermits’  caves  or  cells  such 
as  we  have  already  observed  in  the  gorge  of  the  Brook 
Cherith.  These,  or  some  of  them,  may  have  been  the 
dwellings  of  Essenes  in  the  time  of  our  Saviour,  and  may 
have  been  afterward  occupied  by  Christian  monks.  When 
the  hermit  life  came  to  be  organized,  the  monks  began  to 
make  their  cells  close  to  each  other  and  to  live  in  com¬ 
munities  called  u  lauras  ”  in  which,  while  the  hermits 
allowed  themselves  some  of  the  advantages  of  human 
companionship,  every  individual  hermit  was  free  to  lead 
his  own  life  in  his  own  way.  In  that  respect  the  lauras 
differed  from  monasteries  where  the  monks  formed  an 
organized  society  under  the  rule  of  one  common  Superior. 
The  Monastery  of  St.  Saba  marks  the  gradual  change  of 


280 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


the  laura  to  a  monastery  or  cenobium.  It  is  composed 
of  a  cluster  of  rock-hewn  cells  opening  into  each  other, 
both  laterally  and  perpendicularly,  like  swallows’  nests. 
The  cells  are  constructed  upon  one  side  of  the  Kedron 
Valley,  where  the  walls  or  sides  of  the  gorge  rise  front¬ 
ing  each  other  in  precipices  of  hundreds  of  feet  in  height. 
u  A  well  built  road,  guarded  by  a  strong  stone  fence, 
leads  one  high  up  the  west  side  of  the  chasm,  and  brings 
the  monastery  in  sight.  Its  lofty,  massive  towers  are 
seen  clinging  to  the  almost  plumb-line  sides  of  bare  rocks 
rising  wildly  above,  and  sinking  beneath  into  frightful 
depths,  with  great  walls  of  rock,  hundreds  of  feet  up  and 
down,  forming  the  other  side  of  the  wady,  and  furnish¬ 
ing  the  only  view  presented  to  the  monks  on  the  eastern 
side.  Fearful  loneliness  and  desolation  reign  around. 
You  seek  in  vain  for  a  blade  or  leaf  of  green  to  relieve 
the  barrenness  of  the  shattered  and  weather-beaten  rocks. 
In  summer,  the  heat  reflected  from  the  naked  precipices 
is  almost  unendurable,  and  in  winter  the  rains  stream  in 
torrents  from  the  heights,  checked  by  no  soil  or  herb¬ 
age.”  In  front  of  the  convent  are  five  immense  buttresses 
supporting  the  ledge  on  which  the  monastery  stands,  and 
over  the  giddy  height  of  the  chasm  the  monks  have  put 
out  frail  balconies  which  seem  hardly  strong  enough  to 
sustain  the  weight  of  a  human  body.  The  entrance  to 
the  convent  is  from  above,  of  course,  where  the  approach 
is  guarded  by  a  strong  tower.  Ladies  and  Arabs  are  not 
admitted,  but  men  bringing  proper  introductions  are  enter¬ 
tained  with  humble  hospitality.  It  must  be  confessed 
that  there  are  drawbacks  to  its  enjoyment.  Once  ad¬ 
mitted  to  the  tower,  the  traveller  descends  about  fifty 
steps  to  a  second  entrance  j  thence  by  another  stairway 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


281 


to  a  paved  court ;  and  thence  again,  by  a  third  descent, 
to  the  guest-chamber,  where  he  will  find  divans  for  his 
accommodation.  If  he  occupies  one  of  them  he  will  not 
sleep  alone,  as  they  are  generally  infested  with  vermin. 
The  monks  will  furnish  him  with  bread  and  wine,  and  if 
he  is  attended  by  servants  he  will  find  a  kitchen  where 
they  may  cook  his  provisions.  The  view  from  the  ter¬ 
race  on  a  moonlit  night  is  said  to  be  almost  fearfully  im¬ 
pressive,  and  by  daylight  it  is  touching  to  see  how  the 
monks  have  availed  themselves  of  every  inch  of  space 
for  the  making  of  terraces  and  miniature  gardens.  The 
sun  beats  so  fiercely  from  the  opposite  precipice  that  the 
figs  ripen  much  earlier  here  than  in  Jerusalem,  and  there 
is  a  solitary  palm  tree  which  the  monks  regard  with  pe¬ 
culiar  veneration,  as  they  believe  it  to  have  been  planted 
by  their  founder,  St.  Saba. 

Since  his  death,  about  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  cen¬ 
tury,  the  monastery  has  continued  to  exist,  though  it  has 
been  repeatedly  plundered  by  invaders  and  marauders. 
Even  in  the  present  century  it  has  been  twice  pillaged, 
first  in  1832,  and  again  in  1834.  In  1840  it  was  re¬ 
stored  and  enlarged  by  the  Russian  government.  It  is 
now  a  favorite  resort  of  pilgrims  returning  to  Jerusalem 
from  the  Jordan.  It  is  a  singular  survival  of  a  mode  of 
life  which  has  been  followed  by  men  of  strong  religious 
tendencies,  not  only  under  Christian  training  but  so  far 
back  as  the  days  of  John  the  Baptist  and  before. 

From  Solomon’s  Pools  there  runs  in  a  southeasterly 
direction  to  the  Dead  Sea  a  wady  which,  near  the  pools, 
is  called  Wady  Khureitun ,  and  near  the  sea  is  called 
Wady  ToUamirah .  In  this  wady  are  several  places  of 
interest — TJrtas  or  Etam}  Tequa  or  Tekoa ,  Mugharat 


282 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


or  Khureitun ,  and  the  traditional  Cave  of  Adullam.  A 
mile  north  of  Wady  Khureitun,  four  miles  southwest  of 
Bethlehem,  is  Herodium,  the  modern  Jebel  Ferdis ,  con> 
monly  called  Frank  Mountain.  We  shall  begin  with 
Herodium. 

It  was  at  this  spot  that  Herod  defeated  the  party  of 
Antigonus  and  erected  a  fortress  of  great  magnificence. 
The  natural  hill  rises  six  hundred  feet  above  the  plain 
below,  and  it  is  said  that  Herod  raised  it  still  higher. 
It  now  presents  the  appearance  of  a  huge  cone,  from 
which  the  top  has  been  cut  off.  On  the  summit  and 
within  the  walls  of  the  fortress  Herod  provided  for  him¬ 
self  a  magnificent  palace.  The  only  way  of  access  to 
the  level  of  the  fortress  was  by  a  superb  stairway  of  hewn 
stone.  At  the  foot  of  the  hill  were  palaces  for  Herod  and 
his  friends,  and  the  surrounding  plain  was  laid  out  in  a 
beautiful  town,  built  in  the  Roman  style  and  ornamented 
with  gardens.  From  the  beauty  of  these  gardens, 
watered  by  means  of  aqueducts  the  remains  of  which 
are  still  to  be  seen,  Herodium  took  the  name  of  Paradise, 
which  still  survives  in  the  modern  name  of  El  Ferdis — or 
Fureidis.  Its  other  name  of  the  Frank  Mountain  is  de¬ 
rived  from  a  spurious  tradition  that  the  Frankish  Cru¬ 
saders  held  possession  of  this  castle  for  forty  years  after 
Jerusalem  had  been  wrested  from  them.  The  view  from 
Frank  Mountain  is  exceedingly  interesting.  All  around, 
it  is  true,  are  but  bare  and  wild  uplands  without  a  tree 
to  relieve  the  deadness  of  the  scene ;  but  to  the  eastward 
lies  the  Salt  Sea  far  below,  and  beyond  that  rise  the 
mountains  of  Moab,  while  to  the  northwest  lies  Bethle¬ 
hem  on  its  mountain  seat,  with  the  Shepherd’s  Plain  lying 
between.  On  that  u  wonderful  night  ”  when  the  angels’ 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


283 


song  was  raised  above  the  humble  shepherds,  and  u  glory 
shone  around ”  the  heavenly  messengers  who  announced 
the  coming  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  it  is  probable  that 
lights  were  gleaming  far  too  brightly  in  the  halls  of  Herod 
for  the  revellers  to  think  of  looking  out  into  the  night 
where  heaven  was  greeting  earth  with  new  light  and  with 
songs  of  joy. 

In  Wady  Khureitun,  and  only  a  mile  and  a  quarter 
below  the  Pools  of  Solomon,  is  the  Valley  of  Urtas,  doubt¬ 
less  the  ancient  Etanij  of  which  some  ruins  still  remain. 
Etam  was  fortified  by  Rehoboam,  but  the  valley  is  more 
interesting  as  the  site  of  the  famous  gardens  of  King  Sol¬ 
omon,  and  because  it  is  believed  to  have  been  part  of  the 
patrimony  of  his  father  David.  Many  evidences  of 
former  wealth,  refinement  and  luxury  have  been  exhumed 
at  Urtas,  notably  some  superb  marble  baths,  built  in  the 
Jewish  fashion  but  richly  carved  in  the  style  of  the 
Egyptians.  They  probably  belonged  to  Solomon’s  sum¬ 
mer-house,  but  they  may  have  been  restored  by  Herod 
as  the  capitals  of  some  of  the  pillars  are  ornamented  with 
the  lotus  leaf  and  show  the  style  of  sculpture  that  is 
found  at  Petra.  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  the  Valley 
of  Urtas  is  again  blooming  with  vegetation  under  the  care 
of  a  colony  of  Christian  Israelites  who  supply  the  market 
r  of  Jerusalem  with  fresh  vegetables. 

Five  miles  south  of  Etam,  and  covering  several  acres 
of  the  summit  of  a  long  and  gently-sloping  hill,  which  at 
its  highest  point  is  2397  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Med¬ 
iterranean,  are  the  ruins  of  Tehua ,  the  ancient  Tekoa  (or 
Tekoah ),  among  which  there  are  remains  of  houses  of 
Hebrew  construction  built  of  square  stones  which  are 
partly  bevelled,  the  wreck  of  a  square  tower  or  fortress, 


284 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


the  remains  of  a  church  formerly  belonging  to  a  Greek 
monastery,  and  a  font  of  limestone  so  fine  as  to  resemble 
marble.  Tekoa  can  hardly  ever  have  been  a  walled  town, 
and  although  Rehoboam  is  said  (2  Chron.  xi :  6)  to  have 
built  it  for  defence,  the  defence  probably  consisted  of  a 
tower  or  fortress  similar  to  the  structure  of  which  the 
wreck  still  exists.  The  surrounding  country  is  barren  in 
the  extreme  and  must  always  have  been  so,  though  it 
affords  a  scanty  pasture  to  the  flocks  of  some  rude  and 
ill-conditioned  Arabs.  From  its  lofty  situation  Tekoa  was 
probably  a  signal-place  for  the  Tribe  of  Benjamin,  as  we 
read  in  the  Prophet  Jeremiah,  u  Oh !  ye  children  of 
Benjamin,  ....  blow  the  trumpet  in  Tekoa,  and  set  up 
a  sign  of  fire  in  Beth-haccerem :  for  evil  appeareth  out 
of  the  north,  and  great  destruction  ”  (Jer.  vi :  1). 

Tekoa  is  mentioned  in  sacred  history  as  the  birthplace 
of  the  wise  woman  whom  Joab  employed  to  induce  King 
David  to  recall  his  son  Absalom  when  that  rash  and  un¬ 
happy  prince  had  fled  after  the  murder  of  his  brother 
Amnon.  The  story  as  told  in  2  Sam.  xiv  is  thoroughly 
oriental  in  every  feature.  Tekoa  is  still  more  famous  as 
the  birthplace  of  the  Prophet  Amos.  He  was  u  among 
the  herdmen  of  Tekoa  ”  (Amos  i :  1),  and  was  himself  “  a 
herdman  and  gatherer  of  sycamore  fruit ”  when  “the  Lord 
took  him  as  he  followed  the  flock  and  said,  Go  prophesy 
unto  my  people  Israel”  (vii :  14).  The  rugged  style  of 
the  shepherd-prophet  corresponds  with  his  early  training 
and  the  wild  scenes  in  which  his  youth  was  spent. 

It  was  to  Tekoa  that  the  three  surviving  brothers  of 
Judas  Maccabeus  fled  from  the  Syrian  general  Bac- 
chides,  in  battle  with  whom  he  had  fallen  (Macc.  ix  :  33). 
John  was  soon  afterward  cut  off  by  a  force  of  Ammon- 


THE  WILDEKNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


285 


ites  from  the  east  of  Jordan,  and  his  fate  was  terribly 
avenged  by  Simeon  and  Jonathan.  Learning  that  the 
Ammonite  leader  was  making  a  great  marriage  with  the 
daughter  of  one  of  the  neighboring  princes  and  that  the 
bridal  train  was  proceeding  on  its  way  from  Medeba,  then 
u  they  remembered  John,  their  brother,  and  went  up  and 
hid  themselves  under  the  covert  of  the  mountain.  While 
they  lay  in  ambush  they  lifted  up  their  eyes  and  looked, 
and  behold  there  was  much  ado.’7  The  princely  retinue 
approached,  u  and  the  bridegroom  came  forth,  and  his 
friends  and  brethren,  to  meet  them  with  drums  and  in¬ 
struments  of  music  and  many  weapons.”  But  the  hour 
of  joyful  greeting  to  the  Ammonites  was  the  hour  of  ven¬ 
geance  to  the  Maccabees.  Jonathan  and  his  companions 
leaped  from  their  hiding-place  and  made  such  slaughter 
that  u  many  fell  down  dead,  and  the  remnant  fled  into 
the  mountain,  and  they  took  all  their  spoils.  Thus  was 
the  marriage  turned  into  mourning,  and  the  noise  of 
melody  into  lamentation.  So  when  they  had  avenged 
fully  the  blood  of  their  brother,  they  turned  again  ”  (1 
Macc.  ix  :  34—42). 

The  Wady  Khureitun  runs  in  a  southeasterly  direction 
from  the  Valley  of  Urtas  to  the  Dead  Sea.  It  takes  its 
name  from  St.  Chariton,  a  hermit  of  great  sanctity,  who 
established  a  laura  in  that  wady,  and  died  A.  D.  410. 
About  five  miles  from  Urtas,  and  midway  between  the 
Frank  Mountain  and  Tekoa,  are  the  village  of  Khureitun 
and  the  traditional  Cave  of  Adullam,  to  which,  when  per¬ 
secuted  by  Saul,  David  resorted  and  gathered  a  troop  of 
about  four  hundred  outlaws  (1  Sam.  xxii :  1,  2).  It  was 
while  there  that  he  called  out,  with  longing,  u  Oh  that 
one  would  give  me  of  the  water  of  the  well  of  Bethle- 


286 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


hem,  which  is  by  the  gate  v  (1  Chron.  xi :  17).  At  the 
village  of  Khureitun  the  wady  narrows  to  a  deep  and 
precipitous  gorge,  which  is  rather  a  chasm  than  a  wady. 
On  the  north  side  is  the  spring  of  Khureitun.  Near  the 
crest  of  the  northern  side  is  the  ruin  of  a  tower  once 
square,  and  above  and  below  the  tower,  clinging  to  the 
side  of  the  gorge  and  overhanging  its  precipitous  steep, 
are  the  hovels  of  the  village.  The  cave  lies  below,  and 
the  approach  to  it  is  by  a  narrow  ledge  obstructed  by 
fallen  rocks.  One  of  the  entrances  leads  by  a  short  pas¬ 
sage  to  a  vast  chamber  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  long  by 
thirty  wide  and  thirty  or  forty  high,  from  which  other 
passages  lead  to  other  chambers  of  smaller  dimensions. 
The  passages  are  so  numerous  and  so  intricate  in  their 
windings  as  to  form  a  natural  labyrinth  which  has  never 
been  fully  explored,  and  which  it  is  not  safe  for  the  trav¬ 
eller  to  enter  without  a  guide.  Under  the  feet  the 
ground  gives  a  hollow  sound,  showing  that  there  are 
other  caves  underneath.  Some  of  these  are  reached  by 
descending  passages,  but  it  is  not  probable  that  all  of 
them  are  known.  The  passages  are  of  different  dimen¬ 
sions,  some  being  sufficiently  wide  and  lofty  for  conve¬ 
nience  and  others  so  low  that  the  explorer  is  obliged  to 
stoop  or  even  to  crawl  on  his  hands  and  knees.  The 
whole  cave,  or  combination  of  caves,  is  haunted  by  innu¬ 
merable  bats,  so  that  the  visitor  is  obliged  to  carry  his 
light  in  a  strong  lantern  or  it  would  immediately  be  ex¬ 
tinguished  by  the  frightened  creatures  which  fly  wildly 
against  him  at  every  step.  In  summer  the  cave  is  in¬ 
fested  by  thousands  of  scorpions  also.  On  account  of 
these  pests  some  writers  believe  that  the  cave  could  never 
have  been  habitable,  and  that  it  cannot  therefore  be  the 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


287 


cave  in  which  David  took  refuge  with  four  hundred  men. 
On  topographical  grounds  other  writers  are  of  the  same 
opinion.  Dr.  Tristram  declares  that  there  is  “no 
authority  ”  for  the  tradition  which  identifies  the  Cave  of 
Khureitun  with  the  Cave  of  Adullam.  The  latter  he 
holds  to  have  been  west  of  Bethlehem  on  the  frontier  of 
Philistia,  in  the  Valley  of  Elah  and  at  or  near  the  modern 
Ed  el  Miyehj  a  village  situated  in  the  low  hills  between 
Bethlehem  and  Gath,  with  an  abundance  of  water  and 
with  many  habitable  caves  in  its  vicinity.  On  the  other 
hand,  Mr.  Tyrwhitt  Drake  of  the  Palestine  Exploration 
Fund  considers  the  Caves  of  Khureitun  to  be  “  admira¬ 
bly  adapted  for  the  stronghold  of  an  outlaw.”  In  this 
opinion  Dr.  Thomson  concurs.  He  considers,  moreover, 
that  there  is  “  no  good  reason  to  disturb  the  tradition  ” 
that  the  Cave  of  Khureitun  is  the  Cave  of  Adullam, 
though  he  admits  that  the  city  of  Adullam  was  undoubt¬ 
edly  situated  in  the  Plain  of  Philistia. 

On  the  western  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea  and  twenty- 
three  miles  from  its  northern  end  is  a  spot  of  beauty 
which  was  once  the  seat  of  one  of  the  most  ancient  cities 
of  the  world — Engedi ,  now  Ain  Jidi ,  the  Spring  of  the 
Kid.  A  semicircular  recess  has  been  scooped  out  of  the 
mountains  of  the  wilderness  to  the  extent  of  about  a 
mile  and  a  half  each  way,  and  this  oasis  is  occupied  with 
acacias,  tamarisks  and  jujube  thorn-bushes.  The  u  clus¬ 
ters  of  camphire  in  the  vineyards  of  Engedi  ”  (Cant,  i : 
14)  are  all  withered  and  gone  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
straggling  plants  on  the  verge  of  extinction.  Its  most 
ancient  name  of  Hazezon- Tamar,  The  Pruning  of  the 
Palm  (2  Chron.  xx  :  2),  and  the  poetical  allusion  to  the 
vine,  imply  a  former  condition  of  culture  which  has  long 


288 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


since  ceased  to  exist ;  but  in  its  prime  the  little  Plain  of 
Engedi  was  a  fruitful  spot,  and  the  slope  of  the  mountain 
behind  it  was  covered  with  terraced  gardens  of  which 
vestiges  still  remain.  The  cause  of  all  this  beauty  and 
fruitfulness  was  the  spring  from  which  the  town  took 
its  name,  the  stream  from  which  may  still  be  seen 
bounding  and  skipping  like  a  kid  from  rock  to  rock  in 
tiny  cataracts  until  it  reaches  the  plain.  Below  these 
falls  and  in  the  centre  of  the  plain  a  group  of  ruins 
stands ;  but  although  they  are  the  remains  of  buildings 
erected  with  large  square  blocks  of  stone,  it  is  now  im¬ 
possible  to  trace  their  outline. 

Engedi,  first  called  Hazezon  Tamar,  is  as  ancient  as 
ancient  Hebron.  It  was  a  city  when  Abraham  was  a 
stranger  in  the  Promised  Land,  and  hard  by  it  the  kings  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  with  their  allies,  attacked  the  host 
of  Chedorlaomer  as  it  was  returning  victorious  from  the 
South  Country,  laden  with  spoils,  and  was  descending  to 
the  Dead  Sea  by  the  precipitous  path  which  is  still  used 
by  the  Arabs  in  coming  from  the  lofty  table-land  of  the 
Wilderness  (Gen.  xiv :  7).  It  was  in  the  caves  of  the 
precipice  of  Engedi  that  David  hid  when  11  Saul  took 
three  thousand  chosen  men  out  of  all  Israel  and  went  to 
seek  him  upon  the  rocks  of  the  wild-goats v  (1  Sam. 
xxiv :  2).  It  was  in  one  of  those  caves  that  he  cut  off 
the  skirt  of  Saul’s  robe  which  he  afterward  showed  to 
Saul  himself  in  proof  that  he  might  have  slain  his  per¬ 
secutor  (1  Sam.  xxiv :  1-15).  It  was  up  those  same 
steeps  that  the  forces  of  Ammon  and  Moab  clambered  on 
their  way  to  attack  Judah  in  the  reign  of  Jehoshaphat, 
and  it  was  not  far  from  there  that  they  were  discomfited 
by  the  interposition  of  God  (2  Chron.  xx). 


THE  WILDEBNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


289 


The  fountain  of  Engedi  gushes  from  under  the  rock 
at  a  temperature  of  80  degrees  Fahrenheit.  Fresh-water 
crabs,  some  small  shell-fish  and  a  species  of  small  black 
snail  are  found  in  its  basin.  Traffic  still  passes  by  it,  as 
droves  of  asses  laden  with  salt  are  driven  by  Arabs  from 
the  south  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea  to  Bethlehem  and  Jeru¬ 
salem.  u  North  of  the  fountain,”  says  Dr.  Geikie,  u  is 
found  the  source  of  the  spring  seen  in  the  vale  below; 
a  very  delight  for  its  rich  luxuriance  of  all  kinds  of  foli¬ 
age.  In  long  past  ages,  a  spot  like  this,  utilized  as  it 
would  be,  must  have  been  thought  a  very  paradise  in 
such  surroundings.  Could  it  be  that  this  delightful  nook, 
concealed  within  almost  impenetrable  jungle,  was  known 
to  David  when  he  hid  in  this  neighborhood  ?” 

Sir  C.  Warner  thus  describes  the  hidden  grotto  of  En¬ 
gedi  :  u  A  fairy  grotto  of  vast  size  under  a  trickling  water¬ 
fall,  with  a  great  flat  ledge  of  rock  overhanging  it,  dripping 
with  stalactites  and  draped  with  maidenhair  fern.  Its  lux¬ 
uriance  was  wonderful.  We  gathered  many  tresses  of  its 
fronds  a  yard  long,  and  yet  the  species  is  identical  with 
our  own.  The  sides  of  the  cliff,  as  well  as  the  edges  of 
the  grotto,  were  clothed  with  great  fig  trees,  hanging 
about  and  springing  forth  in  every  direction,  covered 
with  luxuriant  foliage  and  just  now  budding  into  fruit. 
Mingled  with  these  were  bushes  of  retem ,  with  their  lovely 
branches  of  pendant  pink  blossoms  waving  their  sweet 
perfume  all  around.  To  reach  the  grotto  we  had  to  force 
our  way  through  an  almost  impenetrable  canebrake,  with 
bamboos  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  long  and  close 
together.  No  pen  can  give  an  adequate  description  of 
the  beauties  of  this  hidden  grotto,  which  surpasses  all 

that  Claude  Lorraine  ever  dreamt.” 

19 


290 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


Half-way  between  Engedi  and  the  southern  end  of  the 
Dead  Sea  a  tremendous  rock-cliff,  which  has  been  fairly 
called  an  inland  Gibraltar,  overhangs  the  sea.  This  is 
Masada.  It  is  not  mentioned  in  Holy  Scripture,  and 
yet  it  is  famous  in  Jewish  history  as  it  is  the  last  bloody 
scene  of  the  Jewish  struggle  with  Rome.  It  was  first 
occupied  as  a  fortress  by  the  Maccabees,  and  was  after¬ 
ward  strengthened  and  made  impregnable  by  Herod. 
The  account  of  it  given  by  Josephus  is  doubtless  exag¬ 
gerated,  but  of  the  strength  of  its  position  and  fortifications 
there  can  be  no  doubt.  On  the  eastern  side,  fronting  the 
sea,  and  also  on  the  north  and  south,  storm  and  escalade 
were  out  of  the  question  from  the  natural  conformation 
of  the  cliff.  It  was  only  on  the  west  side  that  an  attack 
could  be  rationally  attempted,  and  there  Herod  erected 
walls  of  enormous  height  and  thickness,  and  at  the  nar¬ 
rowest  point  a  tower  which  might  alone  have  been  deemed 
impregnable.  Besides  these  works  he  caused  an  immense 
cistern  to  be  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock,  and  so  provided 
for  a  plentiful  supply  of  water.  He  also  laid  in  an  enor¬ 
mous  store  of  arms  and  implements  of  war,  and  built  a 
palace  for  his  own  occupation  in  case  of  necessity. 

Some  time  before  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  Eleazer  with 
the  band  of  robbers  whom  Josephus  calls  Siccarii  gained 
possession  of  Masada  by  a  stratagem,  and  after  Jerusalem 
was  destroyed  the  last  act  of  the  great  tragedy  was 
enacted  at  the  fortress  by  the  Dead  Sea.  Flavius  Silva 
besieged  Masada,  and  in  order  to  reduce  the  place  by 
famine  he  built  works  around  it  which  can  be  traced  to 
this  day.  When  famine  had  sufficiently  reduced  the 
strength  of  the  besieged,  and  an  immense  causeway  had 
been  erected  on  the  west  side,  Flavius  proceeded  to 


THE  WILDERNESS  OF  JUDEA. 


291 


batter  the  wall,  and  succeeded  in  making  a  breach  ;  but 
the  Jews  immediately  erected  an  inner  work  of  heavy 
timbers  and  filled  the  intervening  space  with  earth.  This 
the  Romans  set  on  fire  5  but  on  the  following  morning, 
when  they  were  about  to  enter  through  the  breach,  they 
saw  Herod’s  palace  in  flames  and  there  appeared  to  be 
not  a  living  human  being  in  the  place.  At  length  one 
old  woman  and  five  children  emerged  from  a  vault,  and 
told  a  tale  which  made  even  the  Roman  soldiers  shudder. 
Finding  further  resistance  impossible,  the  starved  and 
defeated  but  unconquered  Jews  had  resolved  not  to  be 
taken  alive.  With  one  consent  they  decreed  their  own 
death.  Gathering  together  all  their  treasures  in  Herod’s 
palace,  they  committed  them  to  the  flames.  Then  they 
u  embraced  their  wives,  took  their  children  in  their  arms, 
gave  them  the  longest  parting  kisses,”  and  plunged  their 
daggers,  each  into  the  hearts  of  his  own  wife  and  little 
ones.  Next  they  choose  ten  men  by  lot  to  be  the  execu¬ 
tioners  of  all  the  rest,  and  one  by  one  they  laid  their 
necks  down  on  the  fatal  block.  When  all  had  been  dis¬ 
patched  except  the  ten,  one  of  the  ten  was  chosen  as  the 
executioner  of  the  other  nine,  and  having  finished  his 
atrocious  task,  he  fell  bravely  on  his  own  sword.  Thus 
nine  hundred  and  sixty  men,  women  and  children  per¬ 
ished.  Only  two  women  and  five  children,  who  were 
overlooked,  survived  to  tell  a  tale  unmatched  elsewhere 
in  history. 

Canon  Tristram  describes  the  platform  of  Masada  as 
being  isolated  by  tremendous  chasms  on  all  sides,  as  of 
oblong  shape  and  widest  at  the  southern  end.  Its  length 
is  about  1800  feet,  and  its  width  from  east  to  west  about 
600  feet.  Its  height  above  the  level  of  the  Dead  Sea 


292 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


Dr.  Tristram  found  to  be  2200  feet,  though  a  more  gen¬ 
eral  computation  makes  it  from  1200  to  1500  feet.  u  In 
the  centre  of  the  plateau  stands  an  isolated  building.  It 
measures  eighteen  yards  from  north  to  south,  and  sixteen 
from  east  to  west.  The  west  porch  is  five  yards  square, 
the  nave  ten  and  a  half  yards,  with  a  semicircular  apsis, 
and  a  circular  arched  light  at  each  end.  It  is  all  very 
neatly  plastered  with  fine  cement,  flat  pebbles,  and  frag¬ 
ments  of  pottery  in  mosaic  patterns.  Did  we  not  know 
that  Masada  has  no  history  after  its  capture  by  Silva, 
this  chapel  would  certainly  be  set  down  as  a  Crusad¬ 
ing  ruin.”  Toward  the  south  end  of  the  plateau  are 
ruins  which  may  perhaps  indicate  the  site  of  Herod’s 
palace,  though  they  do  not  assuredly  correspond  with  the 
exaggerated  description  of  Josephus.  Beyond  them  on 
the  south  the  platform  ends  in  a  tremendous  chasm. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE. 

John  the  Baptist  was  not  only  the  greatest  of  the 
prophets  $  he  was  the  chosen  forerunner  of  Him  of  whom 
u  all  the  prophets  bear  witness.”  Yet  he  was  a  prophet 
of  that  inexorable  law  which,  St.  Paul  says,  declares  all 
men  to  be  lying  under  sentence  of  death.  The  Baptist 
proclaimed  that  the  kingdom  of  God  was  at  hand $  but  to 
him  the  coming  of  God’s  kingdom  meant  the  coming  of 
a  day  of  vengeance,  when  the  axe  was  to  be  laid  at  the 
root  of  the  trees,  and  all  dead  trees  with  all  their  worth¬ 
less  branches  were  to  be  utterly  consumed.  His  cry 
was,  u  Flee  from  the  wrath  to  come  !” 

Most  appropriate  to  such  a  message  was  the  scene  of 
the  Baptist’s  labors  in  the  lonely  and  desolate  Wilder¬ 
ness  of  Judea,  which  only  a  few  scattered  cells  and  villages 
of  ascetic  Essenes  appeared  to  claim  as  a  portion  of  the 
habitable  earth.  It  lay  along  the  Sea  of  Salt,  in  which  no 
living  creature  moves,  and  which  the  common  instinct  of 
mankind  has  called  the  Dead  Sea.  Under  the  waters  of 
that  sea,  or  near  its  shore,  was  the  former  site  of  the 
doomed  cities  of  the  plain,  the  scene  of  a  tremendous 
tragedy  of  fiery  vengeance.  On  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  desert  was  Jericho,  a  city  built  in  defiance  of  a 
solemn  curse,  and  behind  it  towered  a  mountain  haunted 

by  evil  beasts  and  spirits,  the  Mount  of  the  Temptation, 

(  293  ) 


294 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


which  even  in  its  outward  aspect  is  so  gloomy  and  for¬ 
bidding  as  to  have  been  called  a  mountain  of  malediction. 
Such  was  the  theatre  of  nature  in  which  the  Baptist 
preached  the  last  word  that  the  law  had  for  mankind. 
At  the  last,  as  from  the  first,  that  word  was,  u  The  soul 
that  sinneth,  it  shall  die  !” 

No  part  of  God’s  Word  ever  contradicts  another,  how¬ 
ever  different  it  may  seem ;  and  when  Jesus  came  to 
preach  the  same  Kingdom  of  God  which  John  preached, 
He  did  not  contradict  the  message  of  the  Baptist.  In 
the  most  emphatic  way  He  set  the  seal  of  his  approval 
to  the  message  that  the  Baptist  had  delivered  ;  for  He, 
himself,  though  He  was  innocent  of  all  sin,  went  down 
from  Nazareth  to  Bethabara,  and  was  baptized  with 
John’s  baptism  of  repentance.  Jesus  had  joined  him¬ 
self  to  all  humanity,  and  all  the  miseries  which  sin  has 
brought  upon  our  race.  In  the  Gospel,  as  under  the 
law,  repentance  is  the  first  and  indispensable  condition 
of  deliverance  from  sin  and  its  consequences  j  and,  there¬ 
fore,  He  submitted  to  a  baptism  of  repentance,  for  which 
He  had  no  personal  need,  as  though  He  wished  to  join 
himself  with  men  and  make  their  very  sins  his  own 
that  he  might  also  make  them  partakers  of  his  grace. 
It  was  after  this  amazing  proof  of  his  humility,  and  as 
He  rose  from  the  baptismal  waters  of  the  Jordan,  that 
u  the  heavens  were  opened  unto  him,  and  he  saw  the 
Spirit  of  God  descending  like  a  dove,  and  lighting  upon 
him.  And  lo,  a  voice  from  heaven,  saying,  i  This  is 
My  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased.’  ”  So  true 
is  it,  even  of  the  Son  of  God,  that  “he  who  humbleth 
himself  shall  be  exalted  !” 

The  divine  recognition  of  the  Sonship  of  Christ  was 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  295 


immediately  followed  by  His  mysterious  and  awful  temp¬ 
tation.  While  the  voice  of  the  Spirit  was  yet  sounding 
in  his  ear  Jesus  was  “led,”  according  to  St.  Matthew, 
or  “  driven,”  according  to  St.  Luke,  by  the  same  u  Spirit 
into  the  wilderness,  to  be  tempted  of  the  devil.”  There 
in  the  gloomy  heights  of  Quarantania,  He  remained  for 
forty  days  among  the  wild  beasts,  fasting  from  food,  as  if 
to  try  the  utmost  depths  of  human  weakness  before  his 
struggle  with  the  enemy  of  man.  Emerging  from  that 
struggle,  fainting  yet  victorious,  “  angels  came  and  min¬ 
istered  unto  him.”  His  body  was  refreshed  j  his  soul 
was  strengthened  by  victory  and  hope  for  the  tempted 
world  which  He  had  come  to  save ;  and  Jesus  rose  up  in 
the  consciousness  of  his  divine  power  to  do  the  work 
which  lay  before  him. 

That  work  was  to  preach  the  same  kingdom  of  God 
which  John  had  preached,  and  yet  how  differently.  John 
preached  a  kingdom  of  law  and  retribution,  which  it  is ; 
but  Christ  preached  it  as  a  kingdom  of  love  and  bene¬ 
diction,  which  it  is  still  more.  The  issue  of  the  law  had 
been  condemnation.  The  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  was  a 
proclamation  of  grace.  Jesus  was  now  to  tell  men  that 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  in  them  and  among  them,  as  well 
as  over  and  above  them,  however  little  they  may  recog¬ 
nize  it  $  that  the  spiritual  things  of  God  have  their  be¬ 
ginnings  in  things  which  are  natural  j  and  that  God’s 
indwelling  power  controls,  and  His  Spirit  sanctifies,  all 
lawful  human  societies  and  operations.  The  desert  was 
no  place  for  the  proclamation  of  such  a  Gospel.  Where 
nature  was  most  joyous,  where  men  were  most  numerous 
and  where  their  occupations  were  most  varied,  there  was 
the  appropriate  place  for  Christ’s  Gospel  to  be  preached  ] 


296 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


and  without  an  hour’s  delay  He  rose  and  marched  with 
swift  steps  to  the  field  of  much  the  larger  part  of  all  his 
ministry. 

Before  He  went,  or  rather  perhaps  as  He  went,  He 
paused  a  little  while  beside  the  Jordan  where  John  was 
still  baptizing,  and  there  for  two  short  days  he  tarried 
with  or  near  the  priestly  prophet,  who  should  see  His 
face  on  earth  no  more  (John  i  :  29-36).  John  too  had 
seen  and  heard  the  testimony  of  the  Spirit  to  the  Son- 
ship  of  Christ.  His  generous  soul  had  felt  no  touch  of 
envy  at  the  sight.  He  rejoiced  to  know  that  One  was 
to  come  after  him  whose  shoes’  latchet  he  was  not  worthy 
to  unloose.  He  was  the  first  of  men  to  bear  u  record 
that  this  is  the  Son  of  God.”  He  was  glad  to  send  his 
own  disciples  to  the  greater  Master,  and  the  first  of 
Christ’s  disciples  was  given  him  by  John.  Looking  upon 
Jesus  as  He  walked,  he  said  to  two  of  his  followers, 
u  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God!”  and  the  two  left  John  to 
follow  Jesus.  One  of  them  was  Andrew,  who  soon 
brought  his  own  brother  Simon  to  Jesus.  Thus  the 
little  company  of  Christ’s  disciples  was  begun.  The 
next  day,  when  about  to  set  out  to  his  work  in  Galilee, 
Jesus  found  Philip  also,  and  said  to  him,  u  Follow  thou 
me.”  One  disciple  invariably  calls  another ;  and  as 
Andrew  had  brought  Simon  to  Jesus,  so  Philip  brought 
Nathanael,  u  an  Israelite  indeed.”  We  know  nothing 
further  of  Nathanael  than  that  the  place  of  his  abode  was 
in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  that  he  was  one  of  the  witnesses 
of  Christ’s  resurrection  (John  xxi :  1—14).  It  is  conjec¬ 
tured,  indeed,  that  Nathanael  was  only  his  personal  name, 
and  that  his  surname  was  Bar-Tholomew,  u  the  son  of 
Talmai,”  as  Simon’s  surname  was  Bar-Jona;  u  the  son  of 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  297 


Jona.”  If  the  conjecture  is  correct,  then  Nathaneal  was 
Bartholomew,  one  of  the  twelve  j  but  of  this  there  is  no 
certainty.  He  may  have  been  one  of  that  great  multitude 
of  Israelites  indeed,  who  are  called  to  no  official  station  in 
the  kingdom  of  God,  but  who  are  among  its  chiefest  orna¬ 
ments.  However  that  may  be,  it  is  probable  that  he  now 
returned  to  his  native  village  of  Cana  in  the  company  of 
Jesus. 

On  the  third  day  (John  ii :  1,  3)  they  were  already 
there,  and  the  quickness  of  their  march  showed  the 
alacrity  with  which  our  Lord  set  forth  to  do  his  Father’s 
business.  The  first  work  of  his  ministry  was  meant  to 
mark  with  signal  approbation  that  most  sacred  of  all 
human  ties  which  is  created  by  the  bond  of  marriage. 
At  the  wedding  of  a  humble  pair  He  u  adorned  and 
beautified  the  holy  estate  of  matrimony,”  and  glorified  it 
by  a  marvellous  work  of  superhuman  power.  It  is  piti¬ 
ful  to  think  how  blind  many  of  the  followers  of  Christ 
are  to  the  lesson  thus  taught  by  their  Master  in  the  first 
act  of  his  ministry.  Jesus  taught  self-control ;  He  never 
taught  asceticism.  He  insisted  on  chastity ;  He  never 
taught  that  marriage  is  less  chaste  or  less  pleasing  to 
God  than  celibacy.  From  the  beginning  u  God  has  set 
the  solitary  to  live  in  families,”  and  the  family  is  made 
by  marriage.  The  family,  and  not  the  individual,  is  the 
true  unit  of  society.  So  God  has  ordained ;  and  the 
Son  of  God,  when  He  began  to  preach  the  kingdom  of 
God,  began  by  recognizing  and  exalting  that  domain  of 
God’s  kingdom  of  the  family  which  is  established  by 
every  lawful  marriage. 

Of  Cana,  the  scene  of  Christ’s  first  miracle,  there  is 
little  to  be  told.  Dr.  Robinson  thinks  it  must  have  been 


298 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


a  village  situated  seven  miles  due  north  of  Nazareth,  and 
still  called  Kanet  el-Jelil ,  the  Arab  equivalent  of  “  Cana 
of  Galilee.”  The  traditional  site  of  Cana,  however,  is 
considerably  nearer  to  Nazareth.  Ascending  the  hill, 
which  rises  behind  the  Virgin’s  Well,  we  reach  its  sum¬ 
mit  in  little  more  than  ten  minutes.  Descending  into  the 
valley  beyond  and  going  northward,  after  half  an  hour 
of  easy  walking  we  come  in  sight  of  the  birthplace  of 
the  Prophet  Jonah,  JEl  Meshed ,  the  ancient  Gath-Hepher 
(2  Kings  xiv  :  25);  and  about  a  mile  to  the  northwest  of 
El  Meshed  is  the  spring  of  Kenna.  A  little  beyond  the 
spring  is  the  village  itself,  Kefr  Kenna ,  an  ordinary 
hamlet  of  six  hundred  inhabitants,  half  of  whom  are 
Mohammedans  and  half  Greek  Christians.  The  Greek 
church  contains  an  earthen  jar  which  is  said  to  be  one  of 
those  in  which  the  water  was  turned  into  wine.  All  six 
of  them  are  reported  by  another  story  to  have  been 
taken  to  France  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades,  and  one  of 
them  is  still  preserved  in  the  Musee  d’ Angers.  We  may 
disregard  these  pretended  relics ;  but  if  Kefr  Kenna  is 
indeed  the  Cana  of  the  Gospel,  and  so  the  weight  of 
authority  seems  to  decide,  then  the  spring  is  an  object  of 
deep  and  sacred  interest  as  the  source  from  which  the 
water  was  drawn  for  the  first  of  those  signs  of  divine 
power  by  which  Jesus  u  manifested  forth  His  glory.” 

The  life  of  Jesus  at  Nazareth  was  ended;  his  greater 
life  had  been  introduced  by  the  miracle  at  Cana,  and 
after  that  event  He  u  went  down,”  with  his  mother,  his 
brethren  and  his  disciples,  on  a  short  visit  to  Capernaum. 
Joseph  is  no  longer  mentioned ;  some  time  during  the 
eighteen  years  which  had  elapsed  since  the  first  visit  of 
Jesus  to  Jerusalem  that  good  man  had  been  taken  to  his 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  299 


rest.  Who  are  meant  by  the  “  brethren  77  of  Jesus  we 
need  not  here  inquire.  Some  commentators  and  all  the 
theologians  of  the  Roman  and  oriental  churches  maintain 
that  they  were  not  brothers  but  cousins  of  Jesus,  and 
this  has  been  the  uniform  tradition  of  Christendom.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  it  would  seem  that  these  brethren  of  Jesus 
were  at  first  pleased  at  the  power  He  had  exhibited,  and 
were  perhaps  not  displeased  at  the  distinction  it  reflected 
on  themselves,  since  they  chose  to  be  among  the  com¬ 
panions  of  his  visit  to  Capernaum. 

With  the  accuracy  of  one  who  was  familiar  with  the 
scene,  St.  John  rightly  says  that  He  “went  down77  from 
Cana  to  Capernaum.  The  way  is  one  long  descent,  for, 
while  Cana  lay  among  the  hills  of  Nazareth,  Capernaum 
was  seven  hundred  feet  below  the  level  of  the  Mediter¬ 
ranean.  The  road  has  few  points  of  interest  until  it 
comes  to  what  is  now  called  Kurun  Hattin ,  or  the  Horns 
of  Hattin,  the  traditional  Mount  of  the  Beatitudes.  Dr. 
Robinson  describes  this  spot  as  being  “  merely  a  low 
ridge,  some  thirty  or  forty  feet  high,  and  not  ten  minutes7 
walk  in  length  from  east  to  west.  At  its  eastern  end  is 
an  elevated  point  or  horn,  perhaps  sixty  feet  above  the 
plain,  and  at  the  western  end  another  not  so  high ;  these 
give  to  the  ridge  at  a  distance  the  appearance  of  a  saddle, 

'  whence  the  name  Kurun  Hattin — Horns  of  Hattin.  On 
reaching  the  top  it  is  found  that  the  ridge  lies  along  the 
very  border  of  the  great  southern  plain,  where  this  latter 
sinks  off  at  once  by  a  precipitous  offset  to  the  lower  Plain 
of  Hattin,  four  hundred  feet  below.77  In  the  lower  plain 
is  the  village  of  Hattin,  and  toward  the  north  and  north¬ 
east  a  second  offset,  similar  to  the  former,  makes  the  de¬ 
scent  to  the  level  of  the  lake. 


300 


THE  HOLY  LAND 


The  Kurun  Hattin  is  held  by  the  Latins  to  be  the 
Mount  of  Beatitudes,  where  the  Saviour  delivered  his 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  to  the  multitude  standing  in  the 
adjacent  plain.  There  is  nothing  in  its  form  or  surround¬ 
ings  to  make  the  tradition  inherently  inadmissible.  The 
objection  to  it  is  that  it  is  found  among  the  Latins  only, 
not  among  the  Greeks ;  and  that  even  among  the  Latins 
the  first  mention  of  the  place  in  connection  with  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  by  Brocardus  about  A.  D.  1283. 
Previous  writers,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  had  supposed 
Kurun  Hattin  to  be  the  place  where  our  Lord  fed  the  five 
thousand.  That  tradition  is  inherently  improbable,  and 
dates  only  from  the  fourth  century  ;  but  it  has  the  sup¬ 
port  of  the  Greeks  as  well  as  of  the  Latins,  and  it  is 
nine  hundred  years  earlier  than  the  tradition  which 
makes  the  same  place  the  scene  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount. 

From  the  Horns  of  Hattin  the  traveller  has  a  full 
view  of  the  beautiful  lake  extending  thirteen  miles  from 
north  to  south  and  seven  at  its  greatest  width  from  east 
to  west,  lyre-like  in  form,  and  therefore  in  ancient  times 
called  Chinnereth ,  the  Lyre,  though  it  is  also  known  as 
the  Lake  of  Gennesareth ,  the  Lake  of  Capernaum ,  the 
Sea  of  Tiberias ,  and  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  So  far  did  it 
surpass  all  other  waters  known  to  Israel  that  the  rabbis 
used  to  say  God  had  made  seven  seas  in  the  Land  of 
Israel,  but  had  chosen  Chinnereth  for  himself.  The 
scenery  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  is  not  grand ;  it  is  only 
peaceful  and  joyous,  and  therefore  most  appropriate  for 
the  proclamation  of  a  gospel  of  peace  and  joy.  It  has 
no  high  mountains,  and  with  two  exceptions  no  rugged 
crags  or  gloomy  precipices.  On  the  further  side,  indeed, 


BETHABARA, '  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  301 


barren  bills  of  black  basalt  rise  over  a  fringe  of  oleanders 
which  bloom  gaily  for  a  quarter  of  a  mile  back  from  the 
shell-strewn  border  of  the  lake,  and  behind  those  rocks 
are  pastoral  wilds  where  Jesus  often  sought  retirement 
from  the  crowds  that  thronged  about  him.  Northward 
the  shore  is  broken  by  graceful  bays  of  exquisite  beauty  j 
but  it  is  on  the  western  side  that  the  paradise  of  Galilee 
was  to  be  seen,  for  there  was  Gennesareth,  that  is  to  say, 
Ganne  Sarim ,  the  Garden  of  Princes,  now  called  JEl 
Ghuweir.  This  celebrated  plain  lies  about  midway  be¬ 
tween  Tiberias  and  the  entrance  of  the  Jordan  into  the 
lake.  It  is  only  two  and  a  half  miles  in  length  from  north 
to  south,  and  not  more  than  a  mile  in  width,  but  in  the 
time  of  Christ  it  was  the  richest  spot  in  Palestine.  It 
was  watered  by  five  streams  from  the  neighboring  hills, 
and  the  sun  warmed  it  into  tropical  fertility.  u  Its  soil,” 
says  Josephus,  “is  so  fruitful  that  every  sort  of  tree  can 
grow  upon  it,  and  the  inhabitants  have  planted  an  amaz¬ 
ing  variety.  Walnuts,  which  require  a  cold  air  5  fig  trees, 
which  require  an  air  more  temperate 5  and  palms,  which 
require  a  hot  climate,  flourish  luxuriantly  beside  each 
other.  One  might  say  that  this  place  is  a  triumph  of 
nature,  since  it  compels  plants  that  are  naturally  aliens 
to  each  other  to  grow  side  by  side.  The  seasons  also 
seem  to  maintain  a  generous  rivalry 5  for  the  plain  not 
only  nourishes  fruits  of  different  climes,  but  the  soil 
yields  them  at  the  most  various  times  of  the  year  5  grapes 
and  figs  ripen  continuously  for  ten  months,  and  other 
fruits  come  in  delightful  confusion  all  the  year  round.” 
This  lovely  plain  enjoys  the  only  romantic  scenery  of  the 
coast,  for  at  its  southern  end  are  the  limestone  crags  of 
Arbela,  in  whose  lofty  caverns  robbers  and  Jewish  pa- 


302 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


triots  once  took  refuge,  and  where  the  eagles  only  now 
build  their  nests. 

The  Plain  of  Gennesareth,  Josephus  says,  was  called 
by  its  inhabitants  Capernaum,  a  simple  explanation  of 
the  fact  that  the  site  of  Capernaum  is  not  otherwise  posi¬ 
tively  known.  If  Josephus  is  right,  and  there  is  no  good 
reason  why  he  should  not  be,  Capernaum  was  the  name 
of  the  district,  and  not  of  a  particular  spot  in  the  district. 
Gennesareth,  as  its  name  implies,  was  a  plain  of  u  gar¬ 
dens/7  and  therefore  must  have  been  closely  cultivated 
and  thickly  inhabited.  It  had  a  synagogue  in  which  our 
Lord  frequently  taught  (John  vi  :  59  ;  Mark  i :  21 ;  Luke 
iv  :  33-38) ;  and  this  synagogue  had  been  built  by  the 
centurion  of  a  detachment  of  Homan  soldiers  which  ap¬ 
pears  to  have  been  quartered  in  the  place  (Luke  vii :  1— 
5  j  Matt,  viii :  8).  It  has  been  well  observed  that  the 
building  of  a  synagogue  by  a  foreigner,  and  not  by  the 
inhabitants,  would  go  far  to  show  that  Capernaum  was 
not  at  that  time  a  place  of  wealth  or  commercial  im¬ 
portance  j  but  the  same  circumstance  would  be  per¬ 
fectly  natural  in  a  district  densely  populated  by  humble 
gardeners.  Such  a  district  having  a  synagogue,  a  gar¬ 
rison  and  a  station  for  the  collection  of  customs  (Matt, 
ix  :  9  ;  xvii  :  24 ;  Mark  ii  :  14 ;  Luke  v  :  27)  might 
properly  be  called  a  u  city/7  as  Capernaum  undoubtedly 
was  (Matt,  ix  :  1 ;  Mark  i  :  33)  j  and  situated  on  u  the 
way  of  the  sea/7  that  is,  on  the  great  road  from  Damas¬ 
cus  to  the  South,  the  custom-house  at  Capernaum  may 
have  been  maintained  for  the  levying  of  duties  on  the 
caravans  of  merchandise  passing  to  Galilee  and  Judea, 
and  on  the  fish  and  other  commerce  of  the  lake.  Even 
the  local  traffic  would  be  by  no  means  contemptible, 


BETHABAKA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  303 


for  in  the  time  of  Christ  “the  waters  of  the  lake  were 
ploughed  by  4000  vessels  of  every  description,  from 
the  war-vessel  of  the  Romans  to  the  rough  fisher-boats 
of  Bethsaida  and  the  gilded  pinnaces  from  Herod’s 
palace  ”  at  Tiberias.  The  statement  of  Josephus  that 
Capernaum  was  the  name  given  by  its  inhabitants  to  the 
Plain  of  Gennesareth  is  remarkably  confirmed  by  an  ap¬ 
parent  discrepancy  between  two  of  the  Evangelists,  which 
would  almost  imply  a  contradiction  if  Capernaum  lay  be¬ 
yond  the  Plain  of  Gennesareth.  St.  Mark  (vi :  53)  says 
that  on  a  certain  occasion  Jesus  and  his  disciples  “came 
into  the  land  (Plain)  of  Gennesareth,”  while  St.  John 
(vi :  24)  says  that  the  people  who  came  to  seek  him  .im¬ 
mediately  afterward  found  him  at  Capernaum.  It  is 
true  that  Jesus  might  have  gone  from  the  one  place  to 
the  other  before  the  people  found  him  j  but  it  seems  to 
be  unnecessary  to  devise  so  clumsy  an  explanation,  when 
no  explanation  is  necessary  if  the  Gennesareth  of  St. 
Mark  and  the  Capernaum  of  St.  John  signify  the  same 
place. 

Volumes  however  have  been  written  concerning  the 
site  of  Capernaum,  and  three  spots  have  been  particularly 
singled  out  as  indicating  the  true  place  where  the  Lord’s 
“  own  city  ”  stood.  Strange  to  say,  that  which  is  most 
generally  approved  is  not  in  the  Plain  of  Gennesareth  at 
all,  but  about  two  miles  to  the  north  of  it  $  and  it  must 
be  confessed  that  the  remains  at  Tell  Hum  are  more  like 
those  of  a  “  city  ”  than  the  ruins  at  Ain  Mudawarah , 
which  lie  within  the  plain,  or  of  Khan  Minyeh ,  which  lie 
on  its  northern  border.  This  fact  however  proves  noth¬ 
ing,  unless  it  goes  to  prove  that  Tell  Hum  cannot  be 
Capernaum. 


304 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


However,  the  name  Tell  Hum  presents  a  greater  diffi- 
culty,  since  it  is  very  probably  a  remnant  of  Capernaum, 
different  as  it  sounds  to  English  ears.  Capernaum  is  sim¬ 
ply  Caphar  Nahum ,  the  town  of  Nahum.  Its  Arabic  equiv¬ 
alent  would  be  Kcfr-n ’  Hum  ;  and  when  the  town  (kefr) 
became  a  heap  {tell)  of  ruins,  Kefr-n)  Hum  would  be  easily 
replaced  by  Tell-n 7  Hum7  and  finally  by  Tell  Hum.  Sup¬ 
posing  this  to  be  the  fact,  still  it  does  not  prove  that  the 
Capernaum  which  is  now  represented  by  the  ruins  at 
Tell  Hum  is  the  Capernaum  of  the  gospels.  In  the  time 
of  Hadrian,  long  after  the  time  of  Christ,  the  Jews  were 
permitted  tb  return  to  their  own  land.  In  Galilee  they 
were  much  more  numerous  than  in  the  rest  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  and  the  Capernaum  of  that  period  might  easily  take 
the  ancient  name  without  standing  in  the  neighboring 
Plain  of  Gennesareth. 

One  of  the  very  best  and  briefest  statements  of  the 
case  between  Ain  Mudaivarah ,  Khan  Minyeh ,  and  Tell 
Hum  (and  incidentally  also  of  the  position  of  Bethsaida) 
is  that  given  as  follows  by  Dr.  Tristram : 

u  The  soil  of  the  plain  is  wonderfully  rich.  It  is  a 
wilderness — not,  as  in  the  days  of  Josephus,  an  earthly 
paradise — but  it  is  a  strikingly  beautiful  one.  Wild 
flowers  spring  up  everywhere.  Tulips,  anemones  and 
irises  carpet  the  ground.  The  various  streams  are  lined 
with  deep  borders  of  oleanders,  waving  with  their  rosy 
tufts  of  bloom,  one  sheet  of  pink.  Thick  tangles  of 
thorn  tree  every  here  and  there  choke  the  straggling 
corn  patches,  festooned  with  wreaths  of  gorgeous  purple 
convolvulus.  The  plain  is  almost  a  parallelogram,  shut 
in  on  the  north  and  south  sides  by  steep  cliffs,  nearly  a 
thousand  feet  high,  broken  here  and  there  into  terraces, 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  305 


but  nowhere  easily  to  be  climbed.  On  the  west  side  the 
hills  recede  not  quite  so  precipitously,  and  streams  of 
black  basalt  boulders  encroach  on  the  plain.  The  shore 
line  is  gently  embayed,  and  the  beach  is  pearly  white — 
one  mass  of  triturated  fresh-water  shells — and  edged  by 
a  fringe  of  the  exquisitely  lovely  oleanders. 

u  At  the  northwest  and  southwest  angles  tremendous 
ravines  open  upon  the  plain.  That  to  the  south,  Wady 
Hamam ,  where  the  cliffs  rise  perpendicularly  twelve  hun¬ 
dred  feet,  is  the  ravine  of  the  robber  caves,  already  men¬ 
tioned,  with  its  tiers  of  cavern  chambers. 

u  The  glen  to  the  northwest,  the  Wady  Amud ,  is 
scarcely  less  striking,  and  in  some  places,  from  its  nar¬ 
rowness,  is  even  more  imposing.  Both  are  the  homes 
of  thousands  of  griffon  vultures,  which  rejoice  in  the  de¬ 
serted  caverns  and  solitude.  Between  these  two,  a  third 
wady,  Hubudiyelij  opens  in  a  wider  valley.  From  each 
of  these  perennial  streams  run  to  the  lake,  fertilizing  the 
whole  plain ;  and  in  ancient  times  aqueducts  conveyed 
the  water  to  every  part. 

“  A  little  way  to  the  south  of  the  middle  valley,  a 
copious  spring  bursts  forth  into  an  ancient  circular  foun¬ 
tain  about  thirty  yards  in  diameter,  Ain  Mudawarah , 
from  which  a  little  stream  runs  right  across  the  plain  to 
the  lake.  This  I  formerly  believed  to  be  the  Round 
Fountain  of  Capernaum,  described  by  Josephus.  But  it 
has  since  been  shown,  by  the  researches  of  Sir  C.  Wil¬ 
son,  that  the  larger  and  similar  F ountain  of  JEt  Tabighahy 
to  the  north  of  the  plain,  had  its  waters  conducted  by  an 
aqueduct,  round  the  projecting  headland  which  forms  its 
northeastern  angle,  right  into  the  plain,  and  therefore 

the  description  of  Josephus  will  apply  equally  to  it.  No 

20 


306 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


doubt  there  are  difficulties  connected  with  the  site  of 
Capernaum,  whichever  of  the  three  localities  claimed  for 
it  we  accept  ;  but,  after  the  recent  surveys,  I  am  not 
prepared  to  maintain  the  site  of  Mudawarah. 

“In  the  plain  itself  there  are  no  other  ruins  of  im¬ 
portance  till  we  reach  the  northeast  angle  ;  and  if  Caper¬ 
naum  were,  as  all  writers  describe  it,  in  the  plain,  it  must 
have  been  either  here  or  at  Mudawarah. 

“  The  ruins  at  this  point  are  few.  There  is  a  large 
ruined  Saracenic  khan,  some  chambers  of  which  are  still 
used  as  cattle-sheds.  It  was  known  seven  hundred  years 
ago  as  a  halting-place  on  the  road  from  Damascus,  and  is 
called  Khan  Minyeh.  A  few  yards  lower  down,  nearer 
the  shore,  is  Ain  et-Tin ,  ‘the  fountain  of  the  fig  tree/ 
bursting  copiously  from  the  rocks  and  sending  forth  a 
supply  of  sweet  water  under  the  shade  of  three  fine  fig 
trees,  whence  its  name.  The  little  stream,  after  a  course 
of  about  thirty  yards,  forms  a  small  luxuriant  marsh, 
skirted  with  oleanders  and  choked  with  waving  tufts  of 
the  beautiful  tall  papyrus  of  Egypt.  The  ruins,  the 
second  claimant  for  Capernaum,  are  to  the  west  of  it, 
forming  a  series  of  mounds,  but  no  fragments  of  columns 
or  carvings  have  been  found.  On  the  hill  above  are 
some  more  distinct  ruins  and  tombs,  and  just  above  the 
khan  the  aqueduct  from  Ain  Tabighah  winds  round  the 
cliff  and  is  now  used  as  a  horse-path.  The  spot  loses 
none  of  its  interest  from  the  disputed  identification. 
Whatever  it  be,  many  times  must  our  Redeemer  have 
trodden  the  path  by  that  fountain  j  and  often  the  walls 
below  and  the  cliffs  above  it  re-echoed  the  voice  of  Him 
who  spake  as  never  man  spake. 

“Passing  north,  we  leave  Gennesareth’s  Plain  round 


BETHABABA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  307 


the  edge  of  a  bluff  which  descends  to  the  water’s  edge, 
wholly  interrupting  any  passage  by  the  shore  and  hay¬ 
ing  no  beach.  Descending  immediately  the  path  leads 
close  to  the  beach,  and  at  little  more  than  a  mile  stands 
Ain  Tabighah,  usually  agreed  on  as  JBethsaida ,  The 
House  of  Fish,  and  still  the  chief  fishing  station  on  the 
lake,  the  few  naked  fishermen  casting  hand-nets  into  the 
shallow  waters,  one  boat  being  used  to  supply  the  Tibe¬ 
rias  market.  A  few  hundred  yards  behind,  on  the  hill,  is 
the  great  Round  Fountain  before  alluded  to  and  supposed 
by  Sir  C.  Wilson  to  be  the  Fountain  of  Capernaum  of 
Josephus.  It  is  the  largest  spring  in  Galilee — half  the 
size  of  that  of  the  Jordan  at  Caesarea  Philippi.  It  was 
formerly  raised  by  a  strong  octagonal  reservoir  some 
twenty  feet  above  its  source,  and  thence  conveyed  to  the 
plain  by  an  aqueduct.  Neglect  has  long  since  suffered 
the  great  reservoir  to  be  broken  through,  as  well  as  the 
aqueduct  of  which  here  and  there  piers  may  be  seen. 
There  are  four  other  fountains,  all  slightly  brackish  and 
warm.  These,  sending  up  a  cloud  of  steam  in  the  still 
atmosphere,  produce  a  luxuriant  semi-tropical  oasis 
around  them,  but  are  otherwise  wasted  save  that  a  por¬ 
tion  of  the  water  is  collected  in  an  aqueduct  to  turn  a 
corn-mill,  the  only  one  in  working  order  of  five  and 
the  solitary  inhabited  dwelling  of  Bethsaida.  The 
white  beach  gently  shelves,  and  is  admirably  adapted, 
with  its  little  curved  bay,  for  fishing-boats.  The  an¬ 
chorage  is  good  and  is  partly  protected  by  submerged 
rows  of  stones,  though  there  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  any  breakwater.  Rocks  however  project  more 
than  fifty  yards  out  at  the  southwest,  forming  a  sort 
of  protection.  The  sand  has  just  the  gentle  slope  fitted 


308 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


for  the  fishermen  running  up  their  boats  and  beaching 
them. 

u  Here  we  may  safely  fix  the  scene  of  the  miraculous 
draught  of  fishes  and  the  subsequent  call  of  Peter  and 
Andrew,  James  and  John  (Luke  y  :  1-11).  Bethsaida 
was  coupled  in  the  woe  denounced  by  our  Lord  with  its 
sister  cities  Chorazin  and  Capernaum ;  and  now,  not  only 
in  the  desolation  of  their  sites,  but  in  the  very  dispute 
about  their  identity,  we  see  it  has  been  1  more  tolerable 
for  Tyre  and  Sidon  ’  in  the  day  of  their  earthly  judgment 
than  for  these  cities  (Matt,  xi :  21—24).  Their  names  are 
preserved,  their  sites  are  unquestioned,  but  here  the  names 
are  gone,  and  even  the  sites  are  disputed. 

u  This  Bethsaida,  the  birthplace  of  Andrew,  Peter  and 
Philip,  is  called  Bethsaida  of  Galilee  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  other  Bethsaida,  north  of  the  lake,  on  the  east  side  of 
Jordan,  Bethsaida  Julias . 

u  Proceeding  northward  about  a  mile  and  a  half,  we 
come  upon  a  little  low  promontory  running  out  into  the 
lake,  covered  with  sculptured  ruins  and  known  as  Tell 
Hum ,  the  third  and,  I  am  now  inclined  to  believe,  the 
rightful  claimant  for  the  site  of  ancient  Capernaum.  The 
most  conspicuous  ruin  is  at  the  water’s  edge,  called  the 
White  Synagogue,  built  of  hard  white  limestone  while  the 
district  round  is  strewn  with  blocks  of  black  basalt.  It  is 
now  partly  buried  and  is  nearly  level  with  the  surface,  the 
capitals  and  columns  having  been  for  the  most  part  carried 
away  or  burnt  for  lime.  The  excavations  of  the  Palestine 
Exploration  F und  have  however  shown  many  of  the  ped¬ 
estals  in  their  original  position  and  many  capitals  buried 
in  the  rubbish.  There  can  be  no  doubt,  from  the  form 
and  plan  of  the  building,  that  it  is  a  Jewish  synagogue. 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  309 


11  The  outside  of  the  synagogue  of  Tell  Hum  was 
decorated  with  pilasters,  and  attached  to  its  eastern  side 
is  a  later  addition,  a  rectangular  building  with  three 
entrances  on  the  north  and  one  on  the  east  but  without 
a  doorway  to  connect  the  two  buildings.  But  the  most 
interesting  relic  here  is  a  large  block,  once  a  lintel,  with 
the  pot  of  manna  sculptured  on  it.  If  this  be  Capernaum, 
then  this  must  beyond  doubt  be  the  synagogue  built  by 
the  Roman  centurion  (Luke  vii :  4,  5),  and  it  was  within 
its  walls  that  our  Lord  uttered  the  discourse  in  John, 
chap,  vi.,  and  perhaps,  pointing  to  the  pot  of  manna 
carved  over  the  door,  proclaimed,  1 1  am  that  bread  of 
life.  Your  fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the  Wilderness  and 
are  dead.’  It  is  possible,  from  the  Corinthian  and  Ionic 
mouldings,  that  this  place  is  a  later  erection  of  the  time 
of  the  Emperor  Hadrian,  and  that  the  name  Tell  Hum, 
or  ‘  hill  of  Hum/  was  applied  to  it  when  it  took  the  place 
of  the  earlier  Kefr  Nahum,  or  Capernaum,  ‘the  village 
of  Hum.*  The  remains  of  the  latter  building  are  prob¬ 
ably  those  of  the  church  which  we  are  told  was  built  at 
Capernaum,  and  is  described  about  the  year  A.  D.  600 
as  a  basilica  enclosing  the  house  of  Peter. 

“  Round  the  synagogue,  and  stretching  for  half  a  mile 
from  the  shore,  the  area  is  covered  with  the  ruined  walls 
of  private  houses  and  the  traces  of  a  main  street.  Beyond 
these  are  some  remarkable  tombs  above  and  below 
ground.  There  are  no  traces  of  a  harbor,  and  it  could 
never  have  been  a  convenient  spot  for  fishing-boats. 
But  at  least  it  seems  tolerably  certain  that  whether  this 
be  the  Capernaum  of  our  Lord’s  time  or  not,  it  is  the 
Capernaum  of  the  Jews  when,  under  Hadrian,  they  were 
permitted  to  return  to  their  land.  Its  distance  from  the 


310  the  holy  land. 

Round  Fountain  and  from  the  Plain  of  Gennesareth 
seems  the  obstacle  to  a  decisive  admission  of  it  being  the 
city  of  the  Gospels.77 

Two  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Tell  Hum  and  two 
miles  back  from  the  lake  are  the  ruins  of  Chorazin,  now 
called  Kerazeh ,  situated  partly  in  a  narrow  wady  of  the 
same  name  and  partly  on  an  eminence  700  feet  above  the 
lake.  The  surrounding  country  is  pathless  and  utterly  des¬ 
olate.  The  ground  is  covered  with  millions  of  black  boulders 
over  which  a  horse  can  hardly  make  his  way,  and  which 
present  the  appearance  of  having  been  poured  down  in  a 
tremendous  rain  of  rocks  and  stones.  How  or  why  a 
city  could  ever  have  existed  or  flourished  in  such  a  situa¬ 
tion  it  is  difficult  to  imagine.  Yet  Chorazin  must  once 
have  been  a  place  of  importance.  Its  ruins  are  as  exten¬ 
sive  as  those  of  Tell  Hum,  and  they  are  in  a  fair  state  of 
preservation.  Though  they  have  been  unoccupied  since 
the  fourth  century,  the  walls  of  many  of  the  dwellings 
are  still  standing.  They  are  two  feet  thick,  and  some 
of  them  are  fully  six  feet  high,  built  of  blocks  of  basalt, 
with  windows  a  foot  high  by  six  or  seven  inches  wide. 
The  roofs,  which  seem  to  have  been  flat,  were  supported 
by  columns.  The  houses  vary  in  size,  the  smallest  being 
simply  tiny  stone  boxes,  and  the  largest  being  about 
thirty  feet  square  and  divided  into  four  chambers.  Here 
too  are  the  remains  of  a  large  synagogue,  and  beside  a 
tree  in  the  middle  of  the  ancient  town  is  a  spring.  Such 
as  Kerazeh  is  now,  Chorazin  must  have  been  in  the  time 
of  Christ.  In  such  places  He  carried  on  his  labors,  and 
in  such  dwellings  he  took  his  rest.  No  wonder  that, 
under  the  clear  sky  of  the  Holy  Land,  He  preferred  to 
spend  his  night  in  the  open  air. 


BETHABAEA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  311 


About  eight  miles  northwest  of  Tell  Hum  and  tower¬ 
ing  high  above  the  intervening  hills,  so  as  to  be  visible 
from  nearly  all  parts  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  stands  Safed. 
It  is  not  mentioned  by  name  in  the  Scriptures,  but  it  is 
believed  to  have  been  referred  to  by  our  Saviour  as  the 
u  City  set  upon  an  hill,”  which  u  cannot  be  hid  ”  (Matt, 
v  :  14).  Though  it  cannot  be  proved  by  any  direct  evi¬ 
dence  to  have  been  built  so  early  as  the  time  of  Christ, 
it  seems  to  be  improbable  that  a  military  position  so 
strong  as  that  of  Safed  should  have  been  overlooked  or 
unoccupied,  and  at  the  present  time  it  is  the  place  of  all 
others  in  that  region  which  would  be  most  readily 
thought  of  to  point  the  Saviour’s  illustration.  Certain  it 
is  that  Safed  was  a  place  of  strength  in  the  time  of  the 
Crusades,  and  that  Saladin  had  great  difficulty  in  reduc¬ 
ing  it.  In  1250  it  was  destroyed  by  the  Sultan  of  Da¬ 
mascus,  but  it  was  afterwards  restored  by  the  Templars. 
In  1266  the  garrison  surrendered  to  Bibars,  by  whom 
the  survivors  were  massacred.  Safed  then  became  the 
capital  of  a  province.  In  1759  it  was  destroyed  by  an 
earthquake.  In  1799  it  was  occupied  by  the  French. 
It  is  now  a  sacred  place  of  the  Jews,  who  believe  that 
when  the  Messiah  comes  he  will  rise  from  the  Lake  of 
Gennesareth  and  establish  his  throne  at  Safed.  Safed 
therefore  is  one  of  the  four  great  Jewish  sanctuaries, 
the  other  three  being  at  Jerusalem,  Hebron  and  Tiberias. 
It  is  occupied  by  a  Jewish  colony  founded  not  later  than 
the  sixteenth  century.  It  is  also  the  seat  of  a  celebrated 
school  of  rabbinical  learning,  and  besides  the  schools 
which  were  originally  taught  by  famous  Spanish  rabbis,  it 
once  had  eighteen  synagogues.  Half  of  the  present  popu¬ 
lation  of  Safed — which  is  about  25,000  souls — are  Jews. 


812 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


They  are  punctilious  sticklers  for  the  law  ;  and  Dr. 
Thomson  says  that  u  their  social  institutions  and  manners 
comprise  a  grotesque  mingling  of  filth  and  finery,  Phari¬ 
saic  self-righteousness  and  Sadduceean  license.  A  Jew 
on  the  Sabbath  Day  must  not  carry  even  so  much  as 
a  pocket  handerchief  except  within  the  walls  of  the  city. 
If  there  are  no  walls  it  follows,  according  to  their  logic, 
that  he  must  not  carry  it  at  all.  To  avoid  this  difficulty 
here  in  Safed  they  resorted  to  what  they  called  Eruv. 
Poles  were  set  up  at  the  ends  of  the  streets,  and  strings 
stretched  from  one  to  the  other.  Those  strings  repre¬ 
sented  a  wall,  and  a  conscientious  Jew  could  carry  his 
handkerchief  anywhere  within  their  limits.”  It  was 
among  just  such  superstitious  punctilios  that  our  Lord 
came  preaching  the  gospel  of  liberty.  How  hard  it  must 
have  been  to  him  we  can  never  imagine ;  and  how 
sacrilegiously  destructive  his  doctrine  must  have  seemed 
to  them  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  conceive. 

On  the  first  of  January,  1837,  Safed  was  again  de¬ 
stroyed  by  an  earthquake.  The  city  then  contained  9000 
souls,  and  was  built  on  the  side  of  the  mountain.  As  one 
tier  of  houses  fell  it  rolled  on  the  tier  below,  crushing 
all  beneath.  Nearly  5000  persons  were  killed.  Most 
of  the  Jews  now  at  Safed  are  Polish  immigrants  under 
Austrian  protection,  and  almost  all  of  them  are  beggars. 
Among  the  Sephardim — i.e.j  the  Spanish-Portuguese 
Jews — polygamy  is  still  practiced. 

Six  miles  northwest  of  Safed  is  El  Jish ,  the  ancient 
Giscalctj  seated  on  a  cone-shaped  hill.  It  was  the  last 
place  in  Galilee  that  surrendered  to  the  Romans  under 
Titus,  and  according  to  St.  Jerome  it  was  the  home  of 
the  parents  of  St.  Paul  before  they  emigrated  to  Tarsus. 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  313 


In  the  great  earthquake  which  was  so  disastrous  to  Safed, 
El  Jish  was  completely  destroyed.  Not  a  house  was  left 
standing,  and  a  congregation  of  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  persons,  which  happened  at  the  moment  to  be  gath¬ 
ered  in  the  church,  was  buried  in  the  ruins.  Only  the 
priest  escaped,  being  saved  by  a  projection  of  the  arch 
over  the  altar. 

Returning  to  the  Plain  of  Gennesareth,  we  find  its 
southwestern  border  closed  by  steep  cliffs,  and  beside  the 
shore  is  a  wretched  collection  of  hovels  called  Mejdel , 
which  is  all  that  remains  of  Magdala ,  the  town  of  Mary 
the  Magdalene.  u  Through  its  connection  with  her  whom 
the  long  opinion  of  the  Church  identified  with  the  peni¬ 
tent  sinner,”  says  Dean  Stanley,  u  the  name  of  that  an¬ 
cient  tower  (Migdol)  has  been  incorporated  into  all  the 
languages  of  Europe.  A  large  solitary  thorn  tree  stands 
beside  it.  The  situation,  otherwise  unmarked,  is  digni¬ 
fied  by  the  high  limestone  rock  which  overhangs  it  on 
the  southwest,  perforated  with  caves,  recalling  by  a 
curious  though  doubtless  unintentional  coincidence  the 
scene  of  Correggio’s  celebrated  picture.”  With  the  ex¬ 
ception  of  this  miserable  hamlet,  where  there  is  such  ab¬ 
ject  degradation  that  the  children  play  stark  naked  in 
the  street,  there  is  not  an  inhabited  spot  in  El  Ghuweir, 
the  once  crowded  Plain  of  Gennesareth.  The  huts  are 
built  of  mud  and  stone,  without  windows.  The  inhabit¬ 
ants  are  unspeakably  filthy.  The  ground  is  overrun  with 
tropical  weeds  which  show  the  richness  of  the  soil,  while 
the  flowering  oleanders  seem  to  protest  against  the  desola¬ 
tion  into  which  that  once  pleasant  plain  has  been  suffered 
to  fall.  From  the  rocks  behind  Mejdel  is  perhaps  the 
very  finest  view  of  the  Plain  and  Lake  of  Gennesareth. 


314 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


The  wady  which  rises  up  behind  Mejdel  is  the  Wadij 
el-Hamam ,  the  Valley  of  Doves,  famous  in  Jewish  history. 
Its  upright  walls  are  1000  feet  in  height.  On  the  south¬ 
ern  edge  of  the  ravine  are  the  ruins  of  Irbid ,  once  the 
great  Jewish  town  of  Arbela,  as  appears  from  the  re¬ 
mains  of  a  magnificent  synagogue.  On  the  northern  side 
are  many  small  caves  in  which  not  only  doves  or  pigeons 
but  eagles,  ravens  and  vultures  make  their  abode.  In 
the  time  of  Herod  these  caves  were  the  resort  of  great 
numbers  of  Jewish  Zealots,  who  in  that  unapproachable 
stronghold  defied  their  enemies.  Herod,  then  a  young 
man,  marched  against  them,  and  was  very  nearly  de¬ 
feated  j  but  driving  the  insurgents  to  their  dens  he  let 
down  his  soldiers  in  iron  cages,  drew  out  the  wretched 
enthusiasts  with  hooks,  and  hurled  them  to  the  foot  of  the 
precipice.  Some  of  them  were  smoked  out  of  their  re¬ 
treat  by  fires  of  straw  kindled  at  the  mouths  of  the  caves, 
and  wildly  leaped  out  of  their  own  accord.  The  triumph 
of  Herod  was  complete.  The  Zealots  were  exterminated, 
and  the  only  human  beings  who  have  since  dwelt  in  those 
caves  have  been  peaceful  monks. 

About  a  mile  to  the  south  of  Magdala  a  narrow  glen 
breaks  down  from  the  west,  and  at  its  mouth,  near  to  the 
lake,  are  some  cultivated  fields  and  gardens  with  several 
copious  fountains  and  the  ruins  of  a  village  surrounded 
by  heavy  ancient  walls.  This  place  is  called  Ain-el- 
JBaridelij  the  Cold  Fountain.  It  is  believed  to  be  the 
Dahnanutha  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark.  The  only  reason 
to  be  given  for  this  identification  is  that  while  St.  Mat¬ 
thew  (xv  :  39)  says  that  Jesus  u  came  into  the  border  of 
Magdala,”  St.  Mark  (viii :  10)  says  that  He  u  came  into 
the  parts  of  Dalmanutha.”  The  two  places  are  so  near 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  315 


to  each  other  that  it  would  be  perfectly  natural  to  adopt 
either  of  these  descriptions  of  the  district  lying  between 
them,  and  there  is  no  other  place  near  Magdala  of  which 
the  same  could  be  said.  Dr.  Robinson,  however,  identi¬ 
fies  Dalmanutha  with  Dalhamia  or  Dalmamia  on  the 
Jarmuk,  which  flows  into  the  Jordan  a  little  south  of  the 
Sea  of  Galilee. 

Four  miles  north  of  the  exit  of  the  Jordan  from  the 
Sea  of  Galilee  are  hot  springs,  four  in  number,  which 
have  been  famous  for  thousands  of  years.  Their  water 
is  excessively  bitter  and  salt  and  has  a  strong  smell  of 
sulphur;  its  temperature  is  about  144  degrees  Fahren¬ 
heit.  These  springs  are  believed  to  be  medicinal,  and 
are  said  to  afford  relief  in  cases  of  rheumatism  and  other 
maladies.  In  the  time  of  Joshua  they  were  probably 
surrounded  by  a  walled  town  Hammatli ,  the  Baths,  which 
was  one  of  the  u  fenced  cities  v  given  by  Joshua  to  the 
tribe  of  Naphtali  (Josh,  xix  :  35).  The  city  of  Hammath 
probably  lay  to  the  south  of  the  springs,  as  the  outlines 
of  ruins  of  great  antiquity  can  still  be  traced  there, 
though  similar  remains  found  among  ruins  of  a  later  date 
to  the  north  of  the  springs  indicate  that  the  Herodian 
city  which  afterward  occupied  that  site  stood,  probably 
at  least,  on  the  site  of  another  city  of  greater  antiquity 
«  and  possibly  of  equal  splendor.  In  the  time  of  Josephus 
Hammath  was  called  Ammaus  or  Emmaus.  At  the  pres¬ 
ent  time  the  water  from  the  springs  is  collected  into  one 
channel  and  conducted  to  covered  baths  which  are  not 
more  than  fifty  years  old.  The  reservoir  is  arched  over, 
and  the  water  is  allowed  to  cool  until  its  temperature  is 
sufficiently  reduced  for  bathing. 

Somewhat  to  the  north  of  Hammath,  and  perhaps  in- 


316 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


eluding  a  part  of  it,  was  built  the  city  of  Tiberias.  It 
was  founded  by  Herod  Antipas  A.  D.  20,  and  was  finished 
A.  D.  27 $  that  is  to  say,  it  was  begun  when  our  Saviour 
was  about  twenty-four  years  of  age,  and  was  finished 
when  He  was  about  thirty-one.  It  is  one  of  the  inci¬ 
dental  evidences  of  the  historical  character  of  the  Gos¬ 
pels  that  they  do  not  represent  our  Lord  as  having  ever 
entered  the  splendid  city  which  Herod  had  named  in 
honor  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius.  If  the  Gospels  were  of 
the  date  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  as  certain 
critics  would  have  us  believe,  the  writers  would  hardly  have 
known  the  reason  why  our  Saviour,  who  visited  so  many 
other  places  on  the  shores  of  that  lake,  would  not  visit 
the  new-built  capital  of  Herod.  Such  a  reason,  however, 
did  exist.  Jewish  burying-places  were  always  outside 
their  cities,  never  within  them,  because  the  very  soil  of 
a  cemetery  was  held  to  be  polluted.  It  may  be  that  the 
ancient  burying-place  of  Hammath  was  outside  of  its 
northern  limit ;  but  at  all  events,  part  of  Tiberias  was  built 
on  the  ground  of  a  former  cemetery,  and  on  that  account 
the  new  city  was  an  abomination  to  the  Israelites.  The 
prejudice  against  it  was  so  strong  that  Herod  had  the 
greatest  difficulty  in  inducing  people  to  live  in  it.  Stran¬ 
gers  were  brought  from  a  distance.  Persons  of  rank  were 
enticed  by  promises  of  royal  favor.  To  poorer  people 
Herod  made  a  present  of  desirable  dwellings  on  the  sole 
condition  that  they  should  accept  and  live  in  them.  Even 
slaves  were  brought  there  and  set  at  liberty  in  all  other 
respects  except  that  they  were  required  to  remain  in 
Tiberias.  u  These  measures  were  necessary,”  says  Jo¬ 
sephus,  u  because  many  sepulchres  had  to  be  taken  away 
to  make  room  for  the  city,  contrary  to  the  ancient  J ewish 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  317 


laws  which  pronounce  the  inhabitants  of  such  a  place  to 
be  unclean  for  seven  days.”  To  have  visited  Tiberias 
would  have  subjected  our  Lord  to  the  imputation  of  being 
a  contemner  of  the  law  and  a  partisan  of  Herod  not  only 
in  his  sacrilege  but  also  in  idolatry. 

For  Tiberias,  built  on  a  polluted  site  and  inhabited  by 
a  mixed  population  of  Gentiles  and  renegades,  was  also 
adorned  with  buildings  which  devout  Jews  regarded  as 
essentially  idolatrous.  Herod  was  an  Italian  by  educa¬ 
tion  and  preference.  His  tastes  and  habits  were  those  of 
Rome  ;  he  delighted  in  the  splendid  architecture  and 
magnificent  amusements  to  which  he  had  been  accus¬ 
tomed  ;  and  when  he  founded  Tiberias  and  designated  it 
as  the  capital  of  Galilee,  he  erected  a  palace  ornamented 
with  figures  of  animals,  “  contrary,”  as  Josephus  says, 
“to  the  law  of  our  countrymen.”  It  was  in  vain  that 
Herod  built  in  his  new  capital  the  finest  synagogue  in 
Galilee.  To  say  nothing  of  the  unclean  soil  on  which  it 
stood,  it  was  surrounded  with  Gentile  and  heathen  objects 

which  would  alone  have  sufficed  to  make  it  odious.  Be- 

# 

side  it  were  Roman  gates  and  Grecian  colonnades,  which, 
like  the  squares  of  the  city  and  the  palace  of  Herod, 
were  adorned  with  heathen  statues ;  and  not  far  off  was 
an  amphitheatre  for  the  celebration  of  games  which,  to 
the  Jewish  mind,  were  inseparably  connected  with  idol¬ 
atry.  Apart  from  these  tokens  of  infidelity  to  the  re¬ 
ligion  of  Israel,  the  life  of  the  luxurious  monarch  and  his 
sycophant  court  would  be  offensive  to  all  morality  and 
even  decency  j  for  it  was  probably  in  the  birthday  revels 
of  his  palace  of  Tiberias,  when  surrounded  by  “  his 
lords,  high  captains  and  chief  estates  of  Galilee,”  that 
the  daughter  of  Herodias  danced  before  him  and  received 


818 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


as  her  reward  “the  head  of  John  the  Baptist  in  a 
charger.77  A  hundred  years  after  the  time  of  Christ 
these  things  would  be  forgotten,  and  a  writer  of  that  age 
would  have  been  almost  certain  to  lay  the  scene  of  some 
part  of  the  Saviour’s  Galilean  ministry  in  Herod’s  splendid 
capital  of  Tiberias.  It  is  one  of  the  numerous  incidental 
evidences  that  the  Evangelists  lived  in  the  times  and 
scenes  of  which  they  wrote  that  only  one  of  them  even 
mentions  the  great  and  beautiful  city  into  which  Jesus 
did  not  enter.  St.  John  (vi :  1)  merely  says  that  the 
Sea  of  Galilee  had  come  to  be  called  the  Sea  of  Tiberias, 
and  that  on  one  occasion  (vi :  23)  certain  “  boats  from 
Tiberias77  went  to  a  place  where  Jesus  had  been.  Only 
in  these  two  connections  is  Tiberias  named  in  the  New 
Testament. 

It  is  singular  indeed  that  a  city  which  in  its  foundation 
was  regarded  by  the  Jews  with  abhorrence  should  have 
become  one  of  their  four  sacred  places.  The  fact  is 
doubtless  due  to  the  establishment  there  of  the  Great 
Sanhedrin  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  During 
the  Roman  war,  Josephus,  who  was  commander-in-chief 
of  the  national  forces  in  Galilee,  fortified  Tiberias ;  but 
on  the  approach  of  Y espasian  the  inhabitants  voluntarily 
surrendered,  and  Vespasian  rewarded  their  submission 
by  allowing  them  to  remain  undisturbed.  After  the  war, 
Galilee,  which  had  been  comparatively  undisturbed,  and 
Tiberias,  which  had  not  suffered  at  all,  became  the  chief 
seat  of  the  Jewish  nation.  The  Sanhedrin,  which  had 
been  transferred  from  Jerusalem  to  Sepphoris,  was  again 
transferred  to  Tiberias  j  and  there  the  school  of  the  Tal¬ 
mud  flourished.  It  was  in  Tiberias  that  the  famous  Rabbi 
Judah  Hak-Kadosh  published  the  ancient  traditional  law 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  319 


called  the  Mishna,  and  it  was  there  that  St.  Jerome 
learned  the  Hebrew  tongue.  Bishops  of  Tiberias  are 
mentioned  in  the  fifth  century  5  but  in  637,  when  the  place 
fell  under  the  Arabs,  the  bishopric  disappeared.  During 
the  Crusades  it  was  re-established  under  the  Archbishop 
of  Nazareth  as  Metropolitan.  Tiberias  long  remained 
under  Christian  rule  ;  but  after  the  battle  of  Hattin  the 
Countess  of  Tripoli  was  compelled  to  surrender  the  cas¬ 
tle  to  the  Moslems,  and  in  their  hands  it  has  ever  since 
remained. 

F or  about  two  miles  and  a  quarter  northward  from  the 
baths  there  lies  along  the  shore  an  undulating  plain,  be¬ 
tween  the  water  and  the  steep  hills  on  the  west.  Taba- 
riyeh  lies  at  the  northern  end  of  this  plain,  so  that  the 
ancient  Tiberias  must  have  occupied  all  or  nearly  all  of 
the  intervening  space.  It  probably  did  not  however 
cover  the  ground  of  the  present  Tabariyeh.  The  walls 
of  the  modern  town  were  built  during  the  last  century ; 
they  are  now  dilapidated.  On  the  south  the  town  is 
entirely  unenclosed;  and  the  spacious  old  castle  is  deserted, 
except  by  a  mongrel  sort  of  military  police.  A  Greek 
church  in  the  possession  of  the  Latins  dates  from  the 
time  of  the  Crusades,  but  was  remodelled  in  1869  ;  it  is 
dedicated  to  St.  Peter,  in  honor  of  the  miraculous  draught 
of  fishes  which  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  its  vicinity 
(John  xxi :  6-11),  but  which  could  not  have  occurred 
there.  The  synagogue  is  on  the  shore  of  the  lake ;  it 
is  a  vaulted  building,  unquestionably  of  great  age,  sup¬ 
ported  by  columns  and  has  the  appearance  of  a  Greek 
temple.  The  Jews  of  the  town  have  none  of  the  learn¬ 
ing  for  which  their  predecessors  were  once  celebrated, 
and  the  most  observable  thing  about  them  is  their  large 


320 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


black  bats.  The  steep  hill  behind  the  town  is  full  of 
caves,  some  of  which  are  100  feet  long.  Many  of  them 
are  plastered  and  bear  other  unmistakable  evidences  of 
former  occupation  as  habitations  of  men  ;  but  their  present 
occupants  are  wild  beasts,  such  as  jackals,  hyenas  and 
foxes.  A  few  palm  trees  still  bear  witness  to  the  former 
fertility  of  the  soil,  but  even  they  are  degenerate  and 
bear  no  comparison  with  the  palms  of  Egypt  either  in 
size  or  in  beauty.  In  the  great  earthquake  of  1837,  in 
which  Safed  was  almost  ruined,  the  whole  town  of  Taba- 
riyeh  was  lowered  toward  the  south,  and  the  mole  or  pier, 
reaching  out  into  the  lake,  was  actually  bent  and  almost 
shrivelled. 

Tabariyeh  is  the  only  town  remaining  on  the  shores  of 
the  Lake  of  Tiberias.  It  has  a  population  of  about  4000, 
two-thirds  of  whom  are  Jews,  many  of  them  immigrants 
from  Poland.  It  is  a  wretched  and  filthy  place.  Lying 
as  it  does  nearly  700  feet  below  the  level  of  the  Medi¬ 
terranean,  its  climate  is  very  warm  and  the  hills  rising 
behind  it  on  the  west  to  a  height  of  1000  feet  shut  off 
the  free  circulation  of  the  air  by  which  its  excessive 
heat  might  be  modified.  Dr.  Thomson  says  that  when 
he  was  encamped  near  the  baths  the  thermometer  stood 
at  100  degree  about  midnight.  In  summer  the  place  is 
exceedingly  unhealthy,  severe  forms  of  ague  prevailing 
throughout  that  season.  It  is  infested  with  vermin  and 
swarms  with  mosquitoes  of  enormous  size.  Dr.  Thom¬ 
son,  after  saying  that  no  town  in  Syria  is  so  filthy  as 
Tabariyeh,  exclaims,  u  What  can  induce  human  beings 
to  live  in  such  a  place  V 7 

At  the  extreme  south  of  the  lake,  and  on  the  right 
side  of  the  Jordan  at  its  place  of  exit,  is  a  small  penin- 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  321 


sula  now  called  Kerak ,  the  Taricheae  of  Josephus,  and, 
probably,  the  still  more  ancient  Bakkath  of  Joshua  (Josh, 
xix  :  35).  It  was  once  almost  or  quite  an  island,  con¬ 
nected  with  the  mainland  by  a  long  Roman  bridge  which 
is  now  a  causeway  and  under  the  arches  of  which  in  the 
spring  time  the  water  of  the  Jordan  still  flows.  Taricheae 
is  not  mentioned  in  Scriptures,  but  it  was  a  place  of  un¬ 
doubted  importance.  The  soil  is  full  of  fragments  of 
pottery  and  mosaic  tiles,  for  the  manufacture  of  which 
the  town  was  celebrated.  In  the  Roman  war,  Taricheae 
was  strongly  fortified  by  Josephus,  and  its  isolation  from 
the  mainland  was  completed  by  a  ditch  which  was  partly 
artificial.  It  made  a  stout  defence  but  was  taken  and 
destroyed  by  Titus.  It  was  there  that  Josephus  collected 
two  hundred  and  fifty  ships  to  attack  Tiberias,  and  as 
Taricheae  is  the  only  harbor  on  the  whole  lake  it  must 
have  been  an  important  place  of  refuge  for  ships  over¬ 
taken  in  a  storm. 

We  have  now  glanced  at  all  the  notable  places  on  the 
western  shore  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee.  We  shall  next  look 
at  the  comparatively  few  places  of  interest  on  the  north¬ 
ern  and  eastern  sides,  beginning  where  the  Jordan  enters 
the  lake. 

Two  miles  back  from  the  shore  and  in  the  dead  level 

of  a  rich  alluvial  plain,  through  which  the  turbid  and 

muddy  waters  of  the  Jordan  roll  rapidly  to  the  lake,  once 

stood  a  small  village  called  Bethsaida.  It  was  enlarged 

and  adorned  by  Philip  the  Tetrarch,  who  gave  to  it  the 

name  of  Bethsaida  Julias ,  in  honor  of  the  daughter  of 

the  emperor.  The  mound  of  its  remains,  Et  Tell ,  marks 

the  spot  near  which  our  Saviour  fed  the  five  thousand. 

Bethsaida  Julias  must  be  carefully  distinguished  from 

21 


322 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


Bethsaida  on  the  western  shore  j  for  until  the  existence 
of  two  places  of  the  same  name  on  opposite  sides  of  the 
lake  had  been  ascertained,  the  story  of  that  miracle 
furnished  one  of  the  knottiest  difficulties  of  the  gospels. 
St  Luke  (ix  :  10-17)  says,  that  the  scene  of  the  transac¬ 
tion  was  a  desert  place  “  belonging  to  the  city  called 
Bethsaida.”  St.  Mark  (yi :  31-53)  says,  that  after  it 
had  occurred,  our  Saviour  u  constrained  his  disciples  to 
get  into  the  ship  and  to  go  to  the  other  side  before 
unto  Bethsaida,  while  he  sent  away  the  people  ”  (vi :  45). 
As  they  were  crossing  the  lake  a  great  storm  arose, 
and  when  they  had  given  themselves  up  for  lost,  Jesus 
came  walking  on  the  water  and  stilled  the  waves. 
Then,  according  to  St.  Mark  (vi :  53),  and  also  St» 
Matthew  (xiv  :  15—34),  u  when  they  had  passed  over, 
they  came  into  the  land  of  Gennesareth.”  St.  John 
says  (vi :  5-21),  that  u  they  went  over  the  sea  toward 
Capernaum,”  and  that  after  the  stilling  of  the  tempest, 
u  immediately  the  ship  was  at  the  land  whither  they 
went.”  Comparing  these  accounts,  it  appears  that 
whereas,  according  to  St.  Luke,  the  event  of  the  miracle 
took  place  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bethsaida ,  according  to 
St.  Mark,  Jesus  sent  them  from  the  scene  of  the  Miracle 
to  Bethsaida.  According  to  St.  John  the  disciples  landed 
at  Capernaum,  the  place  for  which  they  had  sailed ;  and 
according  to  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  they  came  to 
u  the  land  of  Gennesareth.”  If  we  remember  that  be¬ 
sides  Bethsaida  Julias  on  the  northeast  of  the  lake  there 
was  another  Bethsaida,  the  home  of  Peter,  Andrew  and 
Philip  (John  i :  44),  and  that  this  second  Bethsaida  was 
in  u  the  land  of  Gennesareth  ” — or  Capernaum, — there  is 
here  no  contradiction  whatever.  Unless  we  do  remem- 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  823 


"ber  it,  there  is  an  inexplicable  discrepancy.  We  may 
also  observe  that  these  accounts  taken  concurrently  go 
to  show  that  in  the  language  of  the  Evangelists  Caper¬ 
naum  is  the  equivalent  of  Gennesareth.  Regarded  as  a 
plain  it  was  Gennesareth ;  regarded  as  a  town  or  city,  it 
was  Capernaum  ;  but  the  phase  u  Land  of  Gennesareth  v 
may  have  been  loosely  used  to  designate  the  district  lying 
north  and  south  of  the  plain  as  well  as  the  plain  itself. 
Thus  every  difficulty  disappears,  and  it  also  appears  that 
the  geographical  language  of  the  Evangelists  is  identical 
with  that  of  Josephus,  a  writer  of  their  own  time.  Had 
the  gospels  been  written  a  century  later,  as  some  critics 
think,  they  probably  would  not  have  applied  the  word 
Capernaum  to  the  district  of  Gennesareth. 

To  the  southeast  of  Et  Tell  lies  the  Plain  of  JBatihah , 
in  some  part  of  which  or  in  the  heights  to  the  eastward 
the  miracle  of  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  took  place ; 
and  in  the  lower  part  of  the  plain  are  ruins  to  which  the 
Arabs  give  the  name  of  Mesadiyeh .  These  ruins  have 
been  supposed  to  be  those  of  Bethsaida,  and  are  so 
marked  in  some  maps. 

About  one-third  of  the  way  from  the  north  of  the  lake, 
a  wady  called  Wady  Semakh  breaks  through  the  cliffs, 
and  on  its  southern  side  are  the  ruins  of  Gergesa ,  now 
called  Khersa.  As  this  is  probably  the  u  country  of  the 
Gergesenes  ”  in  which  St.  Matthew  places  the  scene  of 
the  destruction  of  the  swine  (Matt,  viii :  28),  while  St. 
Mark  (v  :  1)  and  St.  Luke  (viii :  26)  call  it  the  “  country 
of  the  Gadarenes,”  it  is  well  to  observe  that  either  name 
might  be  appropriate  if  the  district  of  Gadaritis  at  that 
time  included  the  smaller  town  of  Gergesa.  In  the  near 
neighborhood  there  are  several  spots  which  would  cor- 


324 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


respond  with  the  accounts  of  the  Evangelists.  Mr.  Mac- 
gregor  remarks  that  between  Wady  Semakh  and  Wady 
Fik  about  three  miles  below  u  there  are  at  least  four 
distinct  localities  where  every  feature  in  the  Scripture 
account  of  this  incident  may  be  found  in  combination. 
Above  them  are  rocks  with  caves  in  them  very  suitable 
for  tombs,  and  further  down  there  is  ample  space  for 
tombs  built  on  sloping  ground — a  form  of  sepulture  far 
more  prevalent  in  Scripture  times  than  we  are  apt  to 
suppose.  A  verdant  sward  is  here,  with  bulbous  roots 
on  which  swine  might  feed ;  and  on  this  I  observed  what 
is  an  unusual  sight,  a  very  large  herd  of  oxen,  horses, 
camels,  sheep  and  goats,  all  feeding  together.”  Within 
a  mile  of  Khersa  is  a  spot  which  seems  particularly  well 
to  correspond  with  the  circumstances  of  the  miracle. 
At  that  place,  says  Sir  C.  Wilson,  u  the  hills,  which 
everywhere  else  on  the  eastern  side  are  recessed  from 
half  to  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  water’s  edge, 
approach  within  forty  feet  of  it.  They  do  not  terminate 
abruptly,  but  there  is  a  steep,  even  slope  which  we 
would  identify  with  the  6  steep  place  ’  down  which  the 
herd  of  swine  *  ran  violently  into  the  sea,’  and  so  were 
choked.” 

Three  miles  below  Grergesa  is  Wady  Fik ,  and  a  little 
way  up  the  wady,  on  the  crest  of  the  precipice  which 
encloses  it,  is  Kulat  el  Husn ,  the  ancient  Gamala ,  which 
made  a  terrible  resistance  to  Vespasian  and  inflicted 
immense  loss  on  its  besiegers  before  it  could  be  captured 
by  the  Romans.  At  the  head  of  the  wady  is  the  town 
of  Fik ,  the  ancient  Aphek ,  where  Benhadad  of  Assyria 
was  completely  overthrown  by  King  Ahab  (1  Kings 
xx  :  26-34).  Between  Wady  Fik  and  the  outlet  of  the 


BETHABAEA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  325 


Jordan  are  remains  of  several  towns  and  villages,  nota¬ 
bly  Es  Semakh  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  ancient  Hip¬ 
pos,  a  place  of  such  importance  as  to  have  been  reck¬ 
oned  as  one  of  the  cities  of  Decapolis  and  to  have  given 
the  name  of  Hippene  to  the  district  lying  about  it.  u  I 
have  spent  a  few  days,”  says  Dr.  Thomson  u  encamped 
on  the  beach  below  this  village,  and  had  ample  time  to 
explore  the  southern  shore  of  the  lake  as  well  as  the 
out-go  of  the  Jordan.  In  the  banks  above  the  beach  are 
innumerable  nests  of  the  wurwar,  the  beautiful  green  and 
blue  bee-eater.  The  beach  is  covered  with  pebbles  of 
flint,  jasper,  chalcedony  and  agate,  and  several  varieties 
of  fresh-water  shells.  But,  though  situated  close  to  the 
beautiful  Sea  of  Galilee,  and  with  scenery  around  it  in 
many  respects  the  most  interesting  in  this  world,  nothing 
would  tempt  one  to  live  in  the  miserable  hamlet  of  Es 
Semakh.” 

Thus  we  have  viewed  the  shores  of  the  once  lovely 
Lake  of  Chinnereth  ;  and  desolate  as  they  now  are,  it 
would  take  but  little  to  restore  them  to  prosperity.  A 
railway,  which  could  be  easily  built  from  Tiberias  south¬ 
ward  along  the  Jordan  Valley  to  Beisan  (Beth-shean), 
and  thence  across  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon  to  Acre,  would 
at  once  make  the  Sea  of  Galilee  the  centre  of  a  profitable 
commerce,  and  its  shores  would  soon  again  bloom  under 
the  hand  of  the  husbandman  and  the  vinedresser.  When 
the  heavy  hand  of  the  u  unspeakable  Turk  ”  is  removed, 
it  will  be  only  a  question  of  time  when  every  part  of 
Palestine  will  be  once  more  opened  to  the  uses  of  civilized 
life.  Already  the  improvement  has  begun,  for  even  the 
Turk  cannot  wholly  resist  the  forces  of  the  age.  But 
when  the  u  fullness  of  time  ”  shall  come,  no  man  living 


326 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


can  foresee  the  new  beauty  in  which  the  Holy  Land  shall 
again  be  clothed. 

But  if  no  such  time  were  ever  to  come,  the  shores  of 
Lake  Tiberias  would  still  remain  forever  sacred  to  man¬ 
kind  in  its  memories  of  Jesus.  That  lake  was  chosen 
of  God  himself,  and  honored  above  all  seas  of  the  earth, 
in  a  sense  of  which  the  rabbis  little  dreamed.  The  men, 
the  fields,  the  valleys  round  it,  are  immortalized  by  their 
association  with  the  Saviour.  There  on  the  hill  slopes 
were  the  vineyards  round  which  their  lord  planted  a 
hedge,  and  in  which  he  built  a  watch-tower,  and  dug  a 
wine-press  (Matt,  xxi :  33).  There  were  the  sunny  hills 
on  which  the  old  wine  had  grown  and  the  new  was  grow¬ 
ing  for  which  the  householder  would  take  care  to  pro¬ 
vide  the  new  leather  bottles  (Luke  v  :  37).  The  Plain 
of  Gennesareth  was  the  enameled  meadow  on  which  in 
spring  ten  thousand  lilies  were  robed  in  more  than  the 
glory  of  Solomon  (Luke  xii :  27-28),  and  where  in  winter 
the  dried  grass  was  cast  into  the  homely  oven  (Matt, 
vi :  30).  It  was  on  such  pastures  that  the  shepherd  left 
the  ninety-and-nine  sheep  to  seek  in  the  mountains  the 
one  that  was  lost  and  bring  it  back,  when  found,  on  his 
shoulders  rejoicing  (Luke  xv :  4).  The  ravens  that 
have  neither  storehouse  nor  barn  (Luke  xii :  24)  sailed 
daily  over  from  the  cliffs  of  Arbela  to  seek  their  food  on 
the  shore  of  the  lake  ;  and  from  the  same  cliffs  flew 
forth  the  hawks  to  make  the  terrified  hen  gather  her 
chickens  under  her  wings  (Matt,  xxiii :  37).  The  fig 
orchards  were  there,  and  among  these  trees  the  dresser 
of  the  vineyard  may  have  found  one  that  in  three 
years  bore  no  fruit  (Luke  xiii :  7)  ;  and  there  the  grain 
of  mustard  seed  would  grow  into  so  great  a  tree  that  the 


BETHABARA,  CANA,  THE  SEA  OF  GALILEE.  827 


fowls  of  the  air  lodged  in  its  branches  (Luke  xiii :  19). 
Across  the  lake  rose  the  hills  of  Gaulanitus,  which  the 
idly-busy  rabbis  watched  for  signs  of  the  weather.  A 
murky  red  sky  above  them  in  the  morning  was  a  text 
to  predict  u  foul  weather  to-day :  for  the  sky  is  red  and 
lowring  ”  (Matt,  xvi :  3)  $  and  when  the  sun  sank  red  and 
glowing,  behind  the  hill  in  the  west,  the  solemn  gossips, 
returning  from  their  many  prayers  in  the  synagogue,  made 
sure  that  u  it  will  be  fair  weather ”  (Matt,  xvi :  2). 
When  the  sea  cloud  was  seen  driving  over  the  hill-tops 
from  Ptolemais  and  Carmel,  neighbors  warned  each  other 
that  a  shower  was  coming  (Luke  xii :  54),  and  the  clouds 
sailing  north,  toward  Safed  and  Hermon,  were  the  accepted 
earnest  of  coming  heat  (Luke  xii :  55).  The  daily  business 
of  Capernaum  itself  supplied  many  of  the  illustrations  so 
frequently  introduced  into  the  discourses  of  Jesus.  He 
might  see  in  the  bazaar  of  the  town,  or  in  the  street,  the 
rich  travelling  merchant  who  exchanged  a  heavy  load  of 
Babylonian  carpets  for  one  lustrous  pearl  (Matt,  xiii :  46) 
that  had  perhaps  found  its  way  thither  from  distant 
Ceylon.  Fishermen  and  ptiblicans  and  dressers  of  vine¬ 
yards  passed  and  repassed  each  moment.  Over  in 
Julias,  the  favorite  town  of  the  Tetrarch  Philip  ;  below, 
in  Tiberias,  at  the  court  of  Antipas,  lived  the  magnates 
who  delighted  to  be  called  u  gracious  lords,”  and  walked 
in  silk  robes  (Luke  xxii :  25).  The  young  Salome  lived 
in  the  one  town ;  her  mother,  IJerodias,  in  the  other ; 
and  the  intercourse  between  the  two  courts  could  not 
have  escaped  the  all-observing  eye  of  Jesus  as  he  moved 
about  Capernaum. 

On  the  occasion  of  our  Saviour’s  first  visit  to  Caper¬ 
naum  in  company  with  his  mother  and  his  brethren,  all 


328 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


these  events  and  observations  and  instructions  were  still 
to  come.  As  a  general  studies  the  field  of  future  cam¬ 
paigns,  so  perhaps  Jesus  gazed  on  the  scenes  of  by  far 
the  greater  part  of  the  ministry  upon  which  he  was  enter¬ 
ing.  But  he  took  no  more  than  a  glance  at  it.  u  He 
continued  there  not  many  days.”  Either  returning  to 
Nazareth,  or  going  directly  down  the  Jordan  Valley,  he 
set  his  face  toward  Jerusalem  to  attend  the  first  Passover 
of  the  period  of  his  ministry. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  THE  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA. 

Whether  our  Lord  returned  to  Nazareth  after  his 
visit  to  Capernaum  we  do  not  know.  We  hear  next  of 
his  visit  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  the  first  Passover  of 
his  ministry.  It  was  at  this  time  that  He  cleansed  the 
Temple  of  the  hucksters  who  profaned  it  with  their 
sordid  presence  (John  ii  :  13-17),  and  when  He  was 
asked  to  prove  his  authority,  He  made  that  mysterious 
answer  which  his  disciples  remembered  after  his  resur¬ 
rection  :  u  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will 
raise  it  up !”  Yet  He  did  not  utterly  refuse  to  show 
some  signs  of  his  Divine  power,  though  He  certainly  did 
use  reserve  in  proclaiming  his  mission  (John  ii :  23-25). 
His  chief  recorded  discourse  was  with  Nicodemus,  who 
came  to  him  by  night  (John  iii)  ;  and  when  it  began  to 
be  noised  abroad  that  his  disciples  were  baptizing  more 
converts  than  John  the  Baptist,  He  immediately  left 
Judea  and  returned  into  Galilee,  not  wishing,  we  may 
suppose,  that  there  should  be  even  the  appearance  of  a 
rivalry  between  himself  and  his  great  forerunner  (John 
iv  :  1-3). 

u  Then,”  says  St.  John  (iv  :  4),  u  He  must  needs  go 
through  Samaria.”  The  necessity  however  was  not  of 
a  physical  or  geographical  character.  J esus  had  now  set 

out  on  his  personal  mission,  and  from  the  first  He  wished 

(  329  ) 


330 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


it  to  be  understood  that  bis  was  no  narrow  or  exclusive 
gospel,  and  in  no  more  striking  manner  could  He  proclaim 
that  fact  than  by  bearing  its  glad  tidings  to  those  outcasts 
of  Israel,  the  despised  Samaritans.  More  than  one  soul 
among  those  heretics  was  hungering  and  thirsting  for  a 
spiritual  food  and  drink  which  He  alone  could  supply, 
and  to  reach  those  souls  Jesus  “  must  needs  go  through 
Samaria.”  It  is  the  line’  of  that  journey  that  we  are  now 
to  follow.  In  all  the  wanderings  of  the  Saviour’s  foot¬ 
steps  there  is  none  more  full  of  local  interest  and  histori¬ 
cal  romance  than  that  which  led  from  Jerusalem  to  the 
“city  of  Samaria,  which  is  called  Sychar,  near  to  the 
parcel  of  ground  that  Jacob  gave  to  his  son  Joseph” 
(John  iv  :  5).  We  shall  not,  of  course,  confine  our  ob¬ 
servations  to  the  comparatively  few  places  of  importance 
through  which  He  actually  passed,  but  rather  take  a 
bird’s-eye  view  of  the  country  on  either  side  of  the  main 
road,  noting  the  spots  of  which  the  Saviour  himself 
could  hardly  help  thinking  as  He  came  near  to  each  of 
them. 

On  his  right,  as  He  left  Jerusalem,  was  Anathoth ,  now 
called  Anata7  three  miles  northeast  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  In  the  earlier  days  of  Israel  Anathoth  was  a 
priestly  city  (Josh,  xxi :  18).  It  was  the  home  of  the 
priest  Abiathar  who  conspired  to  put  Adonijah  on  the 
throne  instead  of  Solomon,  and  whom  Solomon  while 
sparing  his  life  for  the  sake  of  his  priestly  office  ban¬ 
ished  from  the  sanctuary  with  the  stern  command,  “  Get 
thee  to  Anathoth  unto  thine  own  fields :  for  thou  art 
worthy  of  death,  but  I  will  not  at  this  time  put  thee  to 
death,  because  thou  barest  the  ark  of  the  Lord  God  before 
David  my  father,  and  because  thou  hast  been  afflicted  in 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  331 


all  wherein  my  father  was  afflicted”  (1  Kings  ii :  26). 
Anathoth  was  long  occupied  by  the  priests  of  Israel. 
After  the  building  of  the  Temple  it  would  be  one  of  the 
most  convenient  and  desirable  of  all  the  towns  belonging 
to  those  who  were  appointed  to  minister  in  the  sanctuary. 
More  than  three  hundred  years  after  the  time  of  Solomon, 
J eremiah,  the  prophetic  poet  of  Israel,  was  one  u  of  the 
priests  that  were  in  Anathoth  ”  (Jer.  i  :  1). 

At  some  spot  in  that  same  plain,  or  perhaps  as  Dr. 
Robinson  thinks  somewhere  upon  the  ridge  of  the  Mount 
of  Olives  northeast  of  the  city  but  certainly  at  least 
within  sight  of  Jerusalem,  there  was  once  another  priestly 
city  called  Nob ,  where  the  tabernacle  stood  for  a  time 
during  its  wanderings,  before  a  home  was  provided  for 
the  ark  in  the  Temple  of  Solomon  (1  Sam.  xxi :  1).  It 
was  there  that  Ahimelech  the  priest  gave  some  of  the 
u  hallowed  bread  ”  of  the  tabernacle  to  David  in  his  ne¬ 
cessity  when  fleeing  before  the  face  of  Saul.  Unhappily 
the  gift  was  observed  by  Doeg,  an  Edomitish  servant  of 
Saul,  who  reported  it  to  his  master.  Filled  with  fury, 
Saul  summoned  Ahimelech  and  his  assistant  priests  be¬ 
fore  him  and  charged  them  with  treason.  The  brave 
priest  denied  the  treason,  but  spoke  manfully  for  David 
as  the  most  faithful  of  SauPs  subjects.  The  infuriated 
r  king  was  inexorable.  u  Thou  shalt  surely  die,  Ahimelech,” 
he  said,  u  thou  and  all  thy  father’s  house.”  Even  at  the 
king’s  command  the  executioners  refused  to  lift  their 
hands  against  the  Lord’s  priests ;  but  Doeg,  the  Edom¬ 
itish  spy,  fulfilled  that  office,  u  and  slew  on  that  day  four¬ 
score  and  five  persons  that  did  wear  a  linen  ephod.  And 
Nob,  the  city  of  the  priests,  smote  he  with  the  edge  of  the 
sword,  both  men  and  women,  children  and  sucklings,  and 


332 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


oxen,  and  asses,  and  sheep,  with  the  edge  of  the  sword  ” 
(1  Sam.  xxii :  18-19).  Only  one  man  of  all  the  priestly  line 
escaped,  Abiathar  a  son  of  the  faithful  Ahimelech,  the 
same  Abiathar  whom  Solomon  afterward  deposed  from  his 
sacred  office  and  banished  to  u  his  own  fields  ”  at  Anathoth. 

The  site  of  Nob  has  not  been  ascertained.  The  present 
Anata  is  a  poor  village  with  only  about  a  dozen  small 
dwelling-houses,  though  the  cultivated  fields  and  fig  trees 
and  olive  trees  are  perhaps  a  remnant  of  the  culture  of 
the  priests  who  once  dwelt  there  j  and  the  remains  of 
walls  and  solid  old  foundations  tell  of  a  prosperity  that 
has  long  since  passed  away.  On  the  flat  roofs  of  the 
houses  now  occupied  the  wild  grass  grows,  reminding  one 
of  the  Psalmist’s  malediction  : 

Let  them  all  be  confounded  and  turned  back  that  bate  Zion  ! 

Let  them  be  as  the  grass  upon  the  house-tops, 

Which  withereth  afore  it  groweth  up : 

Wherewith  the  mower  filleth  not  his  hand, 

Nor  he  that  bindeth  the  sheaves  his  bosom  ! 

(Psalms  cxxix  :  5-7). 

The  first  city  which  our  Saviour  would  pass  on  this 
journey  was  Gibeah  of  Saul,  also  called  Gibeah  of  Ben¬ 
jamin,  situated  on  what  is  now  a  dreary  and  desolate  hill 
called  Tuleil  el  Ful ,  the  Hill  of  Beans.  It  is  of  conical 
shape  and  roughly  terraced,  but  its  sides  are  bare  and 
treeless  and  its  top  is  covered  with  ruins  which  are 
hardly  more  than  a  confused  heap  of  stones.  On  this 
rough  hill,  then  doubtless  cultivated  from  base  to  summit, 
was  enacted  the  horrid  tragedy  of  the  Levite  and  his 
concubine  related  in  Judges  xix  and  xx  j  and  there, 
about  a  hundred  years  later,  was  the  dwelling-place  of 
Saul,  the  first  king  of  Israel  (1  Sam.  x :  26).  The  simple 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  333 


manners  of  the  time  are  illustrated  by  the  circumstance 
that  when  his  subjects  on  the  other  side  of  the  Jordan 
sent  to  tell  their  king  how  they  were  threatened  with 
either  subjugation  or  mutilation  by  the  Ammonites,  the 
messengers  found  Saul  coming  u  after  the  herd  out  of  the 
field  ”  (1  Sam.  xi :  2-5).  Again  and  again  throughout  the 
checquered  story  of  that  unhappy  monarch  we  read  of 
Gibeah,  and  it  was  not  far  from  Gibeah  that  he  had  his 
last  interview  with  the  aged  Prophet  Samuel  by  whom 
he  had  been  anointed  to  his  kingly  office.  It  was  in  vain 
that  Saul  pleaded  for  pardon ;  the  prophet  refused  to 
grant  him  absolution.  u  Thou  hast  rejected  the  word  of 
the  Lord,”  said  Samuel,  u  and  the  Lord  hath  rejected 
thee.”  At  Saul’s  urgent  entreaty  he  yielded  only  so  far 
as  to  refrain  from  dishonoring  the  king  before  his  sub¬ 
jects,  and  therefore  accompanied  Saul  to  his  camp  at 
Gilgal.  But  he  exacted  a  price  for  his  complaisance. 
One  of  Saul’s  offences  had  been  that  he  had  spared  the 
life  of  Agag,  king  of  the  Amalekites,  whom  he  had  taken 
prisoner  in  battle.  u  Then  said  Samuel,  Bring  ye  hither 
to  me  Agag  the  king  of  the  Amalekites.  And  Agag 
came  unto  him  delicately.  And  Agag  said,  Surely  the 
bitterness  of  death  is  past.  And  Samuel  said,  As  thy 
sword  hath  made  women  childless,  so  shall  thy  mother  be 
childless  among  women.  And  Samuel  hewed  Agag  in 
pieces  before  the  Lord  in  Gilgal”  (1  Sam.  xv  :  32-33). 
Then  the  king  and  the  prophet  parted  to  meet  no  more 
in  life,  though  the  voice  of  Samuel  was  once  again  to 
reach  the  king’s  ear  from  the  grave  with  words  of  doom 
and  irretrievable  defeat.  u  Samuel  came  no  more  to  see 
Saul  until  the  day  of  his  death  :  nevertheless  Samuel 
mourned  for  Saul  ”  (1  Sam.  xv  :  35.) 


334 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


After  Saul’s  death,  his  home  at  Gibeah  was  the  scene 
of  a  fearful  retribution.  In  an  hour  of  outrage  he  had 
put  to  death  some  of  the  Gibeonites,  descendants  of 
the  men  who  had  secured  a  league  of  amity  and  protec¬ 
tion  from  Joshua.  On  David’s  accession  they  demanded 
vengeance.  They  would  have  no  other  recompense. 
They  insisted  that  the  violation  of  their  treaty  with  Israel 
should  be  atoned  by  the  law  of  retaliation,  and  that  seven 
of  Saul’s  surviving  sons  should  be  taken  and  hanged  in 
Gibeah.  David  yielded  to  their  demand,  stipulating 
however  that  the  son  of  his  friend  Jonathan  should  not 
be  sacrificed.  The  deed  was  done ;  and  of  the  sons  of 
Saul  u  they  fell  all  seven  together,  and  were  put  to  death 
in  the  days  of  harvest,  in  the  first  days,  in  the  days  of 
barley  harvest  ”  (2  Sam.  xxi  :  9).  Then  followed  one  of 
the  saddest  scenes  in  history,  when  the  mother  of  two 
of  the  hapless  victims,  u  Kizpah  the  daughter  of  Aiah  took 
sackcloth,  and  spread  it  for  her  upon  the  rock,  from  the 
beginning  of  harvest  until  water  dropped  upon  them  out 
of  heaven,  and  suffered  neither  the  birds  of  the  air  to  rest 
upon  them  by  day,  nor  beasts  of  the  field  by  night” 
(verse  10).  The  woeful  spectacle  of  the  mother,  lying  on 
sackcloth  day  after  day  and  night  after  night,  guarding  the 
bodies  of  her  gibbeted  sons,  might  well  move  the  hearts  of 
the  beholders.  David  did  not  war  against  the  dead,  and 
when  he  heard  of  it  he  went  and  took  the  bones  of  Saul 
and  Jonathan  from  the  place  where  friendly  hands  had  laid 
them  j  and  with  the  bones  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  they  took 
the  bones  of  them  that  had  been  hanged,  and  honorably 
buried  all  together  in  the  sepulchre  of  Kish  (12-14). 
In  these  stories  of  Gibeah,  how  strangely  does  the  hard¬ 
ness  of  the  law  contrast  with  the  gentleness  of  the  gospel 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  335 


of  Christ !  Though  Samuel  was  a  prophet,  he  had  never 
learned  to  say,  u  Go,  and  sin  no  more  !”  And  though 
David  was  a  law-abiding  king,  he  had  not  learned  that 
there  is  any  nobler  law  than  that  which  says,  u  An  eye 
for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,  life  for  life  !” 

A  little  way  beyond  Gibeah  of  Saul  is  the  modern  vil¬ 
lage  of  Er  Earn ,  inhabited  by  about  fifteen  families.  It 
is  the  ancient  Ramah  of  Benjamin  (Josh,  xviii :  25 ;  1 
Kings  xv :  17),  which  was  a  border  fortress  between  the 
kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Israel.  Er  Ram  would  be  more 
important  if  we  could  be  assured  that  it  is  on  the  site  of 
jRamathaim-Zophim ,  the  birthplace  and  home  and  final 
resting-place  of  the  Prophet  Samuel  (1  Sam.  i :  1)  j  but 
as  seven  other  modern  towns  and  villages  are  put  forward 
with  more  or  less  probability  for  that  honor,  we  need  not 
pause  to  investigate  their  respective  claims.  On  the 
whole  however  there  is  as  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  Er 
Ram  as  of  any  other. 

If  we  turn  aside  from  the  main  road  and  proceed  north¬ 
east  through  Er  Ram,  we  come  in  less  than  three  miles 
to  the  edge  of  a  deep  wady,  called  Wady  Suiveinit ,  which 
is  really  the  western  end  of  the  Wady  Kelt,  or  Brook 
Cherith,  already  mentioned  as  in  the  neighborhood  of  Jeri¬ 
cho.  Though  the  Wady  Suweinit  is  not  so  grandly  ter¬ 
rible  as  the  Wady  Kelt,  it  is  precipitously  steep,  and 
on  its  very  brink  is  Jeba ,  the  ancient  Geba ,  picturesquely 
seated  on  the  summit  of  a  terraced  hill,  opposite  to  a 
village  on  the  other  side,  the  name  of  which  is  Mukmas , 
the  ancient  Michmash.  Geba  is  often  confounded  with 
Gibeah.  It  is  famous  as  the  scene  of  Jonathan’s  exploit 
against  the  Philistines  (1  Sam.  xiii :  3).  u  From  its  sum¬ 
mit,”  says  Dean  Stanley,  u  is  seen  northward  the  white, 


336 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


chalky  height  of  jRummon ,  1  the  cliff  Himmon 7  over¬ 
hanging  the  Jordan  c  wilderness  7  where  the  remnant  of 
the  Benjamites  maintained  themselves  in  the  general  ruin 
of  their  tribe  (Judg.  xx  :  47).  Further  still,  the  dark 
conical  hill  of  Tayibeh ,  with  its  village  perched  aloft 
like  those  of  the  Apennines,  the  probable  representative 
of  the  Ophrah  of  Benjamin  (Josh,  xviii :  23)  and  in  later 
times  the  e  city  called  Ephraim 7  to  which  our  Lord  retired, 
c  near  to  the  wilderness/  after  the  raising  of  Lazarus  77 
(John  xi :  54). 

Between  Mukmas  and  Rummon  is  a  ruin  so  complete 
that  its  name  Et  Tell ,  The  Heap  or  Mound,  peculiar  as  it 
is,  is  yet  entirely  appropriate.  The  word  Tell  is  common 
enough  in  Syria,  but  it  is  usually  accompanied  with  some 
more  specific  designation,  as  Tell  Hum,  Tell  Asur,  Tell 
Yusef,  signifying  the  Heap  or  Mound  of  Hum,  Asur, 
Yusef.  In  this  case  it  is  used  simply  with  the  article,  Et 
Tell,  The  Heap.  Now  there  was  a  city  taken  by  Joshua 
which  he  completely  desolated,  and  made  “a  heap  for¬ 
ever  77  (Josh,  viii :  28).  The  word  used  here  is  tell ,  and 
as  it  is  of  rare  occurrence  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  there  was  some  special  pro¬ 
priety  in  its  use.  So  there  seems  to  have  been  j  for  the 
name  of  the  city  which  Joshua  destroyed  was  Hi,  or  more 
generally  Hai  or  Haiath ,  which  also  signifies  The  Heap 
or  The  Mound  ;  and  the  language  of  Joshua  seems  to  have 
been  a  sort  of  grim  play  upon  words,  as  if  he  had  said 
u  You  called  your  city  Hai,  The  Heap ,  but  I  will  make  it 
a  telly  a  heap ,  forever.77  As  the  situation  of  Et  Tell  perfectly 
corresponds  with  the  scriptural  accounts  of  Ai,  it  would 
seem  as  if  Joshua’s  new  name  had  stuck  to  it  for  thousands 
of  years,  though  Ai  has  never  since  reappeared  in  history. 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  337 


Two  great  battles  made  this  district  illustrious  in  the 
annals  of  Israel.  The  first  was  that  which  ended  in  the 
destruction  of  Ai. 

Joshua  had  led  Israel  to  the  western  side  of  Jordan 
and  had  encamped  at  Gilgal.  Jericho  had  fallen,  and 
Jericho  was  the  key  to  the  interior  country.  From  that 
city  to  the  upland  regions  above  Jerusalem  the  ancient 
pass  seems  to  have  been  by  the  Wady  Kelt  and  the 
Wady  Suweinit.  That  way  was  now  clear,  and  the 
scouts  reported  that  a  force  of  two  or  three  thousand  men 
would  be  sufficient  for  the  capture  of  Ai.  They  had  not 
sufficiently  considered  the  advantage  of  position  wdiich 
the  inhabitants  of  Ai  had  over  an  enemy  advancing  up 
hill  to  the  attack ;  and  in  the  event  the  Israelitish  force, 
though  its  loss  was  small,  was  driven  headlong  down  the 
pass  (Josh,  vii :  2-5).  The  second  assault  was  better 
managed.  During  the  night  Joshua  sent  a  heavy  force 
high  up  into  the  wady  north  of  Ai,  posted  a  smaller  force 
on  the  west,  and  then  advanced  as  before,  but  this  time 
making  a  feigned  assault.  The  King  of  Ai,  not  suspect¬ 
ing  an  ambush,  rushed  down  upon  the  assailants  in  front. 
They  fled  as  before,  and  he  followed  them  in  hot  pursuit. 
Then  the  ambushed  forces  fell  upon  the  defenceless  city 
and  set  it  on  fire.  At  sight  of  the  appointed  signal,  the 
rising  smoke,  the  pretended  fugitives  turned  upon  their 
pursuers,  who  were  now  attacked  in  front  and  rear  and 
were  cut  to  pieces.  So  Ai  became  Et-Tell,  u  a  heap  for¬ 
ever  77  (Josh,  viii :  1-22). 

Of  the  great  battle  of  Michmash,  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  the  site  of  Ai,  Dean  Stanley  gives  the  following 
glowing  account : 

u  The  next  time  that  the  Pass  of  Ai  appears  is  in  a 

22 


338 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


situation  of  events  almost  exactly  reversed.  The  lowest 
depression  which  the  Israelite  state  ever  reached  before 
the  Captivity  was  in  the  disastrous  period  during  the  first 
struggles  of  the  monarchy,  when  the  Philistines,  after 
the  great  victory  over  the  sons  of  Eli,  became  the  virtual 
masters  of  the  country  5  and  not  content  with  defending 
their  own  rich  plain,  ascended  the  passes  from  the  west 
(1  Sam.  xiii :  5)  and  pitched  in  the  heart  of  the  mountains 
of  Benjamin  in  Michmash,  L  eastward  from  Beth-aven.7 
Before  the  face  of  this  terrible  visitation  the  people  fled 
in  all  directions.  Some  even  took  refuge  beyond  the  Jor¬ 
dan.  Most  were  sheltered  in  those  hiding-places  which 
all  parts  of  Palestine,  but  especially  the  broken  ridges  of 
this  neighborhood,  abundantly  afford.  The  rocks  are 
perforated  in  every  direction  with  6  caves  7  and  i  holes 7 
and  6  pits  7  (1  Sam.  xiii:  6;  xiv  :  11),  crevices  and  fis¬ 
sures  sunk  deep  in  the  rocky  soil,  such  as  those  in  which 
the  Israelites  are  described  as  concealing  themselves. 
The  name  of  Michmash  (*  hidden  treasure,7  Deut.  xxxii : 
34)  seems  to  be  derived  from  this  natural  peculiarity. 
Saul  himself  remained  on  the  verge  of  his  kingdom,  in 
the  Yale  of  Jordan,  at  Gilgal.  East  and  west  and  north 
through  the  three  valleys  which  radiate  from  the  uplands 
of  Michmash — to  Ophrah  on  the  north,  through  the  Pass 
of  Beth-Horon  on  the  west,  and  down  1  the  ravine  of  the 
hyenas 7  6  toward  the  Wilderness  of  the  Jordan  on  the 
east7 — the  spoilers  went  forth  out  of  the  camp  of  the 
Philistines  (1  Sam.  xiii :  17,  18). 

u  At  last  the  spirit  of  the  people  revived.  On  top  of 
one  of  those  conical  hills  which  have  been  remarked  as 
characteristic  of  the  Benjamite  territory,  in  his  native 
Gibeah,  Saul  ventured  to  entrench  himself  with  Samuel 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  339 


and  Ahiah  (1  Sam.  xiii :  16  ;  xiv  :  2,  18)  where  Jonathan 
had  already  been  at  the  time  when  his  father  was  driven 
from  his  previous  post  at  Michmash  by  the  Philistine  in¬ 
road  (1  Sam.  xiii :  16).  From  this  point  to  the  enemy7s 
camp  was  about  three  miles,  and  between  them  lay  the 
deep  gorge  of  the  Wady  Suweinit,  here  called  the  pas¬ 
sage  of  Michmash,  which  is  described  as  running  between 
two  jagged  points,  or  i  teeth  of  the  cliff/  as  the  Hebrew 
idiom  expressively  calls  them  j  the  one  called  the  1  Shining 7 
(Bozez),  probably  from  some  such  appearance  in  the 
chalky  cliff ;  the  other  c  the  Thorn 7  ( Seneh ),  probably 
from  some  solitary  acacia  on  its  top  (1  Sam.  xiv  :  4). 
Immediately  above,  the  garrison  of  the  Philistines  would 
seem  to  have  been  situated.  It  was  up  the  steep  sides 
of  this  ravine  that  Jonathan  and  his  armor-bearer  made 
their  adventurous  approach ;  and  aided  by  the  sudden 
panic  and  by  the  simultaneous  terror  of  the  shock  of  an 
earthquake,  the  two  heroes  succeeded  in  dispersing  the 
whole  host.  From  every  quarter  the  Hebrews  took  ad¬ 
vantage  of  their  enemies.  From  the  top  of  Gibeah  the 
watchman  saw  and  the  King  and  the  High  Priest  heard 
the  signs  of  the  wild  confusion.  In  the  camp  of  the 
Philistines  the  Israelite  deserters  turned  against  them. 
From  the  Mountains  of  Ephraim  on  the  north  the  Israel¬ 
ites,  who  had  hid  themselves,  i  followed  hard  after  them 
in  the  battle.7  1  So  the  Lord  saved  Israel  that  day,  and 
the  battle  passed  over  to  Beth-aven 7  (that  is,  Bethel). 
It  passed  over  to  the  central  ridge  of  Palestine  j  it  passed 
through  the  forest  now  destroyed  where  from  the  drop¬ 
pings  of  the  wild  honey  on  the  ground  the  fainting  war¬ 
rior  refreshed  his  parched  lips  j  it  passed  over  to  the 
other  side,  from  the  eastern  pass  of  Michmash  to  the 


340 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


western  pass  of  Ajalon,  through  which  they  fled  into 
their  plains ;  ‘  and  the  people  smote  the  Philistines !’ 
Then  Saul  i  went  up  ’  again  into  his  native  hills,  1  and  the 
Philistines  went  to  their  own  place  ?  (1  Sam.  xiv  :  46)  j 
and  from  that  day  till  the  fatal  route  of  Gilboa  Israel  was 
secure  (1  Sam.  xiv  :  4—46).” 

It  is  impossible  to  leave  this  most  interesting  district 
of  the  Promised  Land  without  referring  to  the  poetical 
description  by  the  Prophet  Isaiah  of  the  advance  through 
it  of  the  invading  army  of  Sennacherib  in  the  reign  of 
Hezekiah,  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  death 
of  Saul.  With  a  truly  dramatic  rapidity  of  movement 
the  prophet  describes  the  progress  of  the  invader  through 
most  of  the  places  mentioned  and  others  of  which  no 
vestige  now  remains. 

He  is  come  to  Ai ;  lie  is  passed  to  Migron. 

At  Michmasli  he  deposits  his  baggage  ; 

They  cross  the  pass  ;  Geba  is  their  night-station. 

Hamah  is  afraid  ;  Gibeah  of  Sanl  has  fled  ; 

Cry  aloud  with  thy  voice,  O  daughter  of  Gallim  ; 

Cause  it  to  be  heard  unto  Laish  !  Alas,  poor  Anatlioth  ! 

Madmenah  is  escaped,  the  dwellers  in  Gebim  take  to  flight. 

As  yet  for  that  day  he  halts  at  Nob. 

He  shakes  his  hand  against  the  mount  of  the  daughter  of  Zion, 

The  hill  of  Jerusalem  !  (Isa.  x  :  28-32.) 

In  these  stirring  verses  the  progress  of  Sennacherib  is 
clearly  told.  Thus  far  God  permits  him  to  come,  but  no 
further.  Before  the  hand  of  God  Sennacherib  is  no  more 
than  the  bough  of  a  forest  tree,  and 

Behold,  the  Lord,  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  shall  lop  the  bough  with 
terror, 

He  shall  cut  down  the  thickest  of  the  forest  with  iron, 

Yea,  and  Lebanon  shall  fall  mightily.  (Isa.  x  :  33,  34. ) 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  341 


Returning  to  the  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Samaria,  we 
find  on  the  left,  about  two  miles  north  of  Er-Ram,  a  ruin 
called  Kkirbet  el  Atara  with  two  old  pools,  answering  to 
the  ancient  Ataroth-Addar  (Josh,  xvi :  5) ;  and  two  miles 
further  on,  after  skirting  the  Wady  Suweinit  which  be¬ 
gins  there,  we  come  to  JBireh ,  the  ancient  Beeroth. 

Beeroth  was  one  of  the  four  cities  of  the  Gibeonites 
(Josh,  ix  :  17).  It  appears,  however,  that  its  Hivite  in¬ 
habitants,  possibly  fretting  under  the  yoke  to  which  they 
had  submitted,  abandoned  their  city.  Thenceforward 
Beeroth  belonged  to  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  (2  Sam.  iv  :  2), 
and  the  cowardly  assassins  of  Saul’s  son  Ish-bosheth  were 
Benjamites  of  Beeroth.  No  further  historical  incident  is 
recorded  in  connection  with  Beeroth,  but  the  spot  has 
been  made  exceedingly  interesting  by  a  tradition  which 
is  altogether  improbable,  though  it  may  conceivably  be 
true. 

Beeroth  took  its  name  from  its  abundant  water  which 
made  it  a  suitable  place  for  camping,  and  it  has  long  been 
the  night  station  for  caravans  going  northward  from  Jeru¬ 
salem  j  hence  the  tradition  that  it  was  at  that  place  that  the 
parents  of  Jesus,  at  the  close  of  the  first  day’s  journey 
from  his  first  Passover  when  he  was  twelve  years  of  age, 
u  sought  him  among  their  kinsfolk  and  acquaintance,  and 
when  they  found  him  not,  turned  back  again  to  Jerusa¬ 
lem  seeking  him  ”  (Luke  ii :  44,  45).  As  has  been  said 
before,  the  passage  of  Jewish  caravans  through  Samaria, 
especially  from  the  celebration  of  the  Jewish  feasts,  would 
be  so  offensive  to  the  Samaritans  as  probably  to  lead  to  dis¬ 
turbance  and  even  bloodshed  ;  and  for  that  reason  it  is  ex¬ 
ceedingly  unlikely  that  the  parents  of  Jesus  would  return 
to  their  home  at  Nazareth  by  that  route.  Still  it  is  pos- 


842 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


sible  that  they  may  have  done  so  j  and  the  mediseval  tra¬ 
dition,  founded  perhaps  on  a  still  earlier  belief,  was 
emphasized  by  the  erection  of  a  magnificent  church  and 
hospice  by  English  Knights  Templar  in  memory  of  the 
supposed  event.  The  ruins  of  the  church,  consisting  of 
three  apses  and  the  north  wall,  still  remain  j  and  beside 
them  is  the  wely  or  sanctuary  of  a  Mohammedan  saint. 
At  the  present  time  Bireh  is  a  flourishing  village  with 
about  a  thousand  inhabitants,  who  drive  a  profitable 
traffic  with  the  caravans  which  frequently  occupy  the 
village  khan. 

Two  miles  and  a  half  beyond  Bireh  is  a  spot  hallowed 
in  all  Christian  and  Jewish  memories,  Bethel ,  the  House 
of  God,  more  anciently  called  Luz ,  and  now  Beitin  (Gen. 
xxviii :  19).  Its  sanctity  extended  to  the  time  when 
Abraham  u  journeyed  through  the  land,”  and  first  received 
at  Sichem  the  promise  that  the  whole  land  should  be  the 
inheritance  of  his  posterity.  At  Sichem  he  built  an 
altar $  but  near  by  Bethel,  u  with  Bethel  on  the  west  and 
Ai  on  the  east,”  he  built  another  u  altar  unto  Jehovah, 
and  called  upon  the  name  of  Jehovah”  (Gen.  xii :  6-8). 
It  was  to  Bethel  and  not  to  Sichem  that  he  went  again 
to  offer  sacrifice  on  his  return  out  of  Egypt,  and  it  was 
then  and  there  that  he  and  his  kinsman  Lot  took  their 
view  of  the  surrounding  country  in  preparation  for  a 
friendly  separation  (Gen.  xiii).  There  had  been  strife 
among  the  herdmen  of  their  respective  flocks,  and  Abra¬ 
ham  was  a  man  of  peace.  u  Let  there  be  no  strife,  I 
pray  thee,”  he  said,  u  between  me  and  thee,  and  between 
my  herdmen  and  thy  herdmen  j  for  we  be  brethren.  Is 
not  the  whole  land  before  thee  ?  separate  thyself,  I  pray 
thee,  from  me :  if  thou  wilt  take  the  left  hand,  then  I 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  343 


will  go  to  the  right ;  or  if  thou  depart  to  the  right  hand, 
I  will  go  to  the  left.”  Then,  we  are  told,  that  u  Lot 
lifted  up  his  eyes  and  beheld,”  and  made  the  choice 
wThich  ended  so  fearfully.  The  spot  of  that  fateful  view 
is  precisely  indicated.  It  must  have  been  a  lofty  emi¬ 
nence  j  and  yet  it  was  not  Bethel,  strictly  speaking, 
but  a  height  having  Bethel  on  the  west  and  Ai  on 
the  east  (Gen.  xii :  8,  xiii :  3).  u  This  precision,”  says 
Dean  Stanley,  u  is  the  more  to  he  noticed  because  it 
makes  the  whole  difference  in  the  truth  and  vividness  of 
the  remarkable  scene  which  follows.  Immediately  east 
of  the  low  grey  hills,  on  which  the  Canaanitish  Luz  and 
the  Jewish  Bethel  afterward  stood,  rises  a  conspicuous 
hill,  its  topmost  summit  resting  as  it  were  on  the  rocky 
slopes  below  and  distinguished  from  them  by  the  olive 
grove  which  clusters  over  its  broad  surface  above.  From 
this  height  thus  offering  a  natural  base  for  the  patriarchal 
altar  and  a  fitting  shade  for  the  patriarchal  tent,  Abra¬ 
ham  and  Lot  must  be  conceived  as  taking  the  wide  sur¬ 
vey  of  the  country  L  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left/ 
such  as  can  be  enjoyed  from  no  other  point  in  the  neigh¬ 
borhood.  To  the  east  there  rises  in  the  foreground  the 
jagged  range  of  the  hills  above  Jericho ;  in  the  distance 
the  dark  wall  of  Moab ;  between  them  lies  the  wide 
Valley  of  the  Jordan — its  course  marked  by  the  tract  of 
forest  in  which  its  rushing  stream  is  enveloped  j  and  down 
to  this  valley  a  long  and  deep  ravine,  now  as  always  the 
main  line  of  communication  by  which  it  is  approached 
from  the  central  hills  of  Palestine — a  ravine  rich  with 
vine,  olive  and  fig,  winding  its  way  through  ancient  reser¬ 
voirs  and  sepulchres,  remains  of  a  civilization  now  ex¬ 
tinct  but  in  the  times  of  the  patriarchs  not  yet  begun. 


344 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


To  the  south  and  the  west  the  view  commanded  the 
bleak  hills  of  Judea,  varied  by  the  heights  crowned  with 
what  were  afterward  the  cities  of  Benjamin  and  over¬ 
hanging  what  in  a  later  day  was  to  be  Jerusalem,  and 
in  the  far  distance  the  southern  range  on  whose  slope  is 
Hebron.  Northward  are  the  hills  which  divide  Judea 
from  the  rich  plains  of  Samaria. 

u  This  is  the  view  which  was  to  Abraham  what  Pisgah 
was  afterward  to  his  great  descendant.  This  was  to  the 
lords  of  Palestine,  then  almost  free  before  them  where 
to  choose,  what  in  Grecian  legends  is  represented  under 
the  figure  of  the  Choice  of  Hercules, — in  the  fables  of 
Islam  under  the  story  of  the  prophet  turning  back  from 
Damascus.  c  And  Lot  lifted  up  his  eyes,7  toward  the 
right,  6  and  beheld  all  the  u  circle  77  of  Jordan,  and  it  was 
well  watered  everywhere.  .  .  .  even  as  a  garden  of  the 
Lord,  like  unto  Egypt.7  He  saw  not  indeed  the  tropical 
fertility  and  copious  streams  along  its  source.  But  he 
knew  of  its  fame,  as  of  the  Garden  of  Eden,  as  of  the 
valley  of  the  Nile  ;  no  crust  of  salt,  no  volcanic  convul¬ 
sions  had  as  yet  blasted  its  verdure  or  touched  the  secure 
civilization  of  the  early  Phoenician  settlements  which  had 
struck  root  within  its  deep  abyss.  1  Then  Lot  chose  him 
all  the  u  circle 77  of  the  Jordan,  and  Lot  journeyed  east ; 
and  they  separated  themselves  one  from  the  other.  .  .  . 
and  Lot  dwelt  in  the  cities  of  the  u  circle  77  of  the  Jordan, 
and  pitched  his  tent  toward  Sodom.  But  the  men  of 
Sodom  were  wicked  and  sinners  before  the  Lord  exceed¬ 
ingly.  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Abraham  after  that  Lot 
had  separated  from  him,  Lift  up  now  thine  eyes,  and 
look  from  the  place  where  thou  art,  northward  and  south¬ 
ward,  and  eastward  and  westward ;  for  all  the  land  which 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  345 


thou  seest,  to  thee  I  will  give  it  and  to  thy  seed  forever. 
.  .  .  and  I  will  make  thy  seed  as  the  dust  of  the  earth, 
so  that  if  a  man  can  number  the  dust  of  the  earth, 
then  shall  thy  seed  be  numbered.  Arise  walk  through 
the  land  in  the  length  of  it  and  in  the  breadth  of  it ;  for 
I  will  give  it  unto  thee.7  Those  bleak  hills  were  indeed 
to  be  the  site  of  cities  whose  names  would  be  held  in  honor 
after  the  very  ruins  of  the  seats  of  a  corrupt  civilization 
in  the  garden  of  the  Jordan  would  have  been  swept  away ; 
that  dreary  view,  unfolded  then  in  its  primeval  desolation 
before  the  eyes  of  the  now  solitary  Patriarch,  would  be 
indeed  peopled  with  a  mighty  nation  through  many  gen¬ 
erations,  with  mighty  recollections,  *  like  the  dust  of  the 
earth  in  number,  forever.7  77 

Along  the  same  beaten  track,  which  for  thousands  of 
years  has  led  from  the  south  to  the  north  of  Palestine, 
came  the  wandering  steps  of  the  solitary  fugitive  Jacob, 
when  he  fled  from  the  anger  of  his  defrauded  and  justly 
indignant  brother.  He  did  not  know  the  country  as 
Abraham  had  known  it,  and  in  the  Plain  of  Bethel  he 
laid  him  down  to  rest  with  the  bare  ground  for  his  couch, 
a  stone  for  his  pillow,  and  the  starry  sky  of  the  east  for 
his  canopy.  It  was  there  that  he  dreamed  of  the  ladder 
— which  was  more  than  the  illusion  of  a  dream — with  its 
foot  set  upon  the  earth  and  its  top  reaching  to  the  ut¬ 
most  heaven,  and  the  angels  of  God  ascending  and  de¬ 
scending  on  it.  In  that  vision  he  learned  that  all  his 
unbroth erly  fraud  had  been  worse  than  wasted,  since  it 
was  of  God’s  purpose  and  not  through  his  own  craft 
that  the  main  line  of  his  father’s  posterity  was  to  be  con¬ 
tinued  through  him.  “And  Jacob  awaked  out  of  his 
sleep,  and  he  said,  Surely  the  Lord  is  in  this  place $  and 


346 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


I  knew  it  not.  And  he  was  afraid,  and  said,  How  dreadful 
is  this  place !  This  is  none  other  but  the  House  of  God 
(Beth-el)  and  this  is  the  gate  of  heaven.  And  Jacob 
rose  up  early  in  the  morning,  and  took  the  stone  that  he 
had  put  for  his  pillows  and  set  it  up  for  a  pillar,  and 
poured  oil  upon  the  top  of  it ;  and  he  called  the  name  of 
that  place  Beth-el ;  but  the  name  of  that  city  was  called 
Luz  at  the  first’7  (Gen.  xxviii :  10-19). 

Thither  again  came  Jacob  in  the  days  of  his  pros¬ 
perity  and  built  an  altar  to  the  God  who  had  kept 
promise  with  him  since  the  night  of  his  vision ;  and  from 
that  time  onward  Bethel  was  a  sanctuary  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  of  Israel  (Gen.  xxxv  :  1-7).  In  the  language  of 
their  sacred  books  its  name  is  used  in  such  a  way  that 
our  translators  have  wavered  between  the  Hebrew  word 
Beth-el  as  a  proper  name  and  its  English  equivalent,  the 
House  of  God.  After  they  had  taken  possession  of  the 
land  the  people  in  their  distress  went  to  seek  counsel  of 
the  Lord  at  the  u  House  of  God,”  that  is,  at  Bethel  $  for 
it  appears  that  for  a  time  at  least  the  ark  of  the  cove¬ 
nant,  with  the  consecrated  altars  of  burnt  offering  and  of 
incense,  were  kept  at  Bethel  under  the  charge  of  Phine- 
has,  the  grandson  of  Aaron  (Judg.  xx  :  18,  26-28,  31 ; 
xxi :  2-4).  There,  also,  at  a  later  time,  the  priestly 
Judge  and  Prophet,  Samuel,  held  one  of  his  yearly  cir¬ 
cuits  for  the  administration  of  justice  (1  Sam.  vii :  16). 

On  the  division  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  from  that  of 
Judah,  Jeroboam  desecrated  the  sanctuary  of  Bethel  by 
making  it  a  sanctuary  of  idolatry  (1  Kings  xii :  28,  29, 
33),  though  not  without  a  brave  protest  from  a  prophet 
of  God,  who  went  thither  from  Judah  to  deliver  his  peril¬ 
ous  message  (1  Kings  xiii :  1-4).  Yet  there  were  still 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  347 


worshippers  and  even  prophets  of  the  true  God  left  in 
the  sacred  city  (1  Kings  xiii :  11)  j  and  when  Elijah  vis¬ 
ited  Bethel  he  found  there  a  school  of  the  sons  of  the 
prophets  (2  Kings  ii :  2,  3).  Under  Jehu  the  calf-wor¬ 
ship  of  Jeroboam  was  renewed  (2  Kings  x  :  29),  and 
under  his  great-grandson  Bethel  became  both  a  royal  city 
and  a  royal  sanctuary  (Amos  vii :  13).  It  then  attained 
its  highest  splendor  as  a  residence  of  the  kings  of  Israel, 
who  had  both  a  summer  palace  and  a  winter  palace  there. 
There  too  the  nobles  had  their  u  houses  of  ivory  ”  with 
sumptuous  furniture  and  equipage,  leading  luxurious  and 
self-indulgent  lives  and  maintaining  a  magnificent  but 
idolatrous  worship  (Amos  iii :  15  ;  v  :  21,  22  j  vi :  4—6). 
With  the  Assyrian  invasion  all  these  things  came  to  an 
end ;  u  the  Lord  removed  Israel  out  of  his  sight,”  the 
unfaithful  people  were  carried  away  into  captivity  and 
their  land  was  repeopled  by  alien  tribes  from  Babylon 
and  elsewhere  (2  Kings  xvii :  23,  24).  Strange  to  say, 
it  was  then  and  by  those  strangers  that  the  worship  of 
Jehovah  was  restored  at  Bethel.  When  they  came  into 
the  country  they  found  it  so  forsaken  and  desolate  that 
the  wild  beasts  had  invaded  it,  and  some  of  the  strangers 
were  destroyed.  Attributing  this  misfortune  to  the 
anger  of  u  the  God  of  the  land,”  they  appealed  to  the 
King  of  Assyria,  who  sent  one  of  the  captive  priests  to 
Bethel  to  u  teach  them  the  manner  of  the  God  of  the 
land.”  The  priests  u  taught  them  how  they  should  fear 
Jehovah,”  and  they  followed  his  instructions ;  but  their 
worship  of  Jehovah  did  not  exclude  that  of  their  own 
tribal  gods,  and  their  mixed  ritual  continued — though  not 
at  Bethel — down  to  the  time  of  the  writing  of  the  Second 
Book  of  the  Kings  (2  Kings  xvii :  24-34). 


348 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


During  the  reign  of  the  good  King  Josiah  every  ves¬ 
tige  of  idolatry  at  Bethel  was  swept  clean  away.  The 
altar  and  u  high  place  v  of  Jeroboam,  which  had  been 
suffered  to  stand,  were  cast  down  and  polluted  by  burn¬ 
ing  upon  them  dead  men’s  bones  from  the  neighboring 
tombs.  As  he  looked  around  Josiah  saw  one  sepulchre 
bearing  an  inscription,  and  asked  whose  sepulchre  it  was. 
On  being  told  that  it  was  the  tomb  of  the  prophet  who 
had  bravely  borne  a  message  of  denunciation  to  Jeroboam 
foretelling  the  vengeance  which  Josiah  himself  had  just 
executed,  he  said,  u  Let  him  alone ;  let  no  man  move  his 
bones !”  So  that  monument  and  the  bones  of  the  brave 
prophet  they  let  alone ;  and  with  them  they  left  in  peace 
the  bones  of  that  other  prophet  whose  white  lie,  told 
out  of  a  kindly  and  hospitable  impulse,  had  betrayed  the 
faithful  prophet  to  his  death,  and  caused  him  to  be  known 
in  history  as  u  the  disobedient  prophet v  (2  Kings  xxiii  : 
15-20  5  and,  1  Kings  xiii :  1-10).  From  that  time  on 
the  sanctuary  of  Bethel  was  forsaken,  and  the  city  ceased 
to  be  a  place  of  importance  j  but  it  still  existed  in  the 
time  of  Vespasian,  since  it  was  captured  by  him  on  his 
march  from  Tiberias  to  Jerusalem.  In  the  New  Testa¬ 
ment  it  is  not  mentioned,  though  it  must  have  been  passed 
by  our  Saviour  on  the  journey  we  are  now  tracing.  In 
later  history  it  is  unknown.  Its  very  site  is  a  recent 
discovery  of  the  missionary  Nicolaye,  who  in  1836  identi¬ 
fied  it  as  Beitin. 

Beitin  stands  on  a  hill,  and  consists  of  miserable  hovels 
inhabited  by  some  four  hundred  wretched  people.  It  has 
the  ruins  of  a  tower  with  some  ancient  substructures.  Near 
it  are  the  remains  of  a  church.  In  the  valley  to  the  west 
is  a  large  reservoir  three  hundred  feet  long  by  two  hun- 


FKOM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  349 


dred  feet  wide,  enclosed  by  solid  masonry.  The  vil¬ 
lage  looks  down  upon  the  valley  to  the  east  where  Abra¬ 
ham  pitched  his  tent  and  Jacob  laid  him  down  to  sleep 
with  a  stone  for  his  pillow.  The  following  observations 
of  Dr.  Hackett  will  be  found  interesting : 

u  The  sojourn  of  Abraham  and  Lot  with  their  flocks 
and  herds  in  this  region  (Gen.  xiii :  1)  implies  that  it  was 
very  fertile  and  well  suited  to  their  pastoral  occupations. 
The  writer  can  testify  that  it  maintains  still  its  ancient 
character  in  this  respect.  The  cattle  which  he  saw  there 
surpassed  in  number  and  size  any  that  he  saw  at  any  one 
time  in  any  other  place.  Springs  abound,  and  a  little  to 
the  west,  toward  Jufna ,  the  Roman  Gophna,  was  a  little 
flooded  meadow,  which  as  late  as  the  28th  of  April  was 
almost  large  enough  to  be  called  a  lake.  On  the  hill¬ 
top  just  east  of  Bethel,  where  Abraham  and  Lot  agreed 
to  separate  from  each  other,  the  eye  catches  a  sight  which 
is  quite  startling  $  we  see  not  only  the  course  of  the  Jor¬ 
dan  stretching  north  and  south,  readily  traced  by  the 
waving  line  of  verdure  along  its  banks,  but  its  waters 
broken  and  foaming  as  they  roll  over  some  of  the  many 
cascades,  almost  cataracts,  for  which  the  river  is  re¬ 
markable.  It  is  interesting  to  be  reminded  that  sep¬ 
ulchres  are  found  at  the  present  day  in  the  rocky 
heights  around  Bethel.  Stanley  also  speaks  of  1  the 
excavations 9  which  the  traveller  sees  in  approaching 
this  place,  in  which  the  dead  of  so  many  past  genera¬ 
tions  have  been  buried.  It  was  from  such  recesses,  no 
doubt,  that  King  Josiah,  in  his  zeal  for  the  worship  of 
Jehovah,  dug  up  the  bones  of  the  old  idolaters  who  had 
lived  at  Bethel,  which  he  burned  on  the  altar  of  the 
golden  calf  in  order  by  this  act  of  pollution  to  mark  his 


850 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


abhorrence  of  such  idolatry,  and  to  render  the  place 
infamous  forever.’7 

If  we  should  take  the  road  to  the  northwest  from 
Beitin,  and  follow  it  for  three  miles  we  should  come  to 
Jifna  (or  Jufna ),  the  Gopbia  of  Josephus,  and  a  ride  of 
twelve  miles  now  would  bring  us  to  TibneJi ,  which  with¬ 
out  doubt  is  the  ancient  Timnath-serah,  the  home  and 
last  resting-place  of  the  great  leader  whose  name  was  to 
be  borne  by  a  greater  leader  still.  For  Tibneh  was  the 
inheritance  of  Joshua,  whose  name  in  the  Greek  form 
is  Jesus.  In  the  division  of  the  conquered  land  of 
Canaan,  Joshua  was  the  last  man  to  whom  an  inherit¬ 
ance  was  given  5  yet  his  portion  was  that  which  he  de¬ 
sired.  u  According  to  the  word  of  the  Lord  they  gave 
him  the  city  which  he  asked,  even  Timnath-serah  in 
Mount  Ephraim  :  and  he  built  the  city  and  dwelt  therein  ” 
(Josh,  xix  :  50).  It  has  been  a  matter  of  wonder  that 
the  great  chief  who  might  have  had  his  choice  among 
the  best  lands  of  Palestine  should  have  chosen  so  wildly 
rocky  and  secluded  a  spot  5  but  it  is  not  perhaps  so 
strange  after  all.  Joshua  had  fulfilled  an  arduous  task, 
and  his  public  life  was  at  an  end 5  for  the  evening  of 
his  days  he  might  well  desire  seclusion,  and  if  his  inherit¬ 
ance  was  modest  and  remote  from  the  great  thorough¬ 
fares,  he  and  his  heirs  would  be  the  less  exposed  to  envy, 
and  the  less  danger  there  would  be  of  future  disturbance. 
Joshua  had  the  wisdom  of  Agur,  whose  prayer  was, 
u  Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches  and  he  was  tried 
as  perhaps  Agur  was  not  j  for  when  u  all  the  land  was 
before  him,”  he  asked  and  received  the  rough  and  rug¬ 
ged  and  almost  barren  hills  of  Timnath-serah. 

u  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  Joshua 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  351 


the  son  of  Nun,  the  servant  of  the  Lord,  died,  being  an 
hundred  and  ten  years  old.  And  they  buried  him  in  the 
border  of  his  inheritance  in  Timnath-serah  ”  (Josh,  xxiv  : 
29,  30).  In  the  vicinity  of  Tibneh  are  many  rock-cut 
tombs,  and  one  of  them  is  believed  by  Captain  Conder  to 
be  the  tomb  of  Joshua.  Captain  Conder  says  it  “is  cer¬ 
tainly  the  most  striking  monument  in  the  country,  and 
strongly  recommends  itself  to  the  mind  as  an  authentic 
site.  That  it  is  the  sepulchre  of  a  man  of  distinction  is 
manifest  from  the  great  number  of  lamp-niches  which 
cover  the  walls  of  the  porch ;  there  are  over  two  hundred 
arranged  in  vertical  rows,  giving  the  appearance  of  an 
ornamental  pattern,  and  all  smoke-blackened.  Here 
then,  if  we  accept  the  site,  is  the  resting-place  of  the 
great  leader,  the  stout  soldier,  the  fierce  invader  who 
first  brought  Israel  into  the  Promised  Land.”  The 
number  of  tombs  in  the  neighborhood  shows  that  Tib¬ 
neh  has  for  some  reason  been  a  favorite  place  of 
burial ;  and  when  it  is  remembered  that  all  orientals 
have  a  strong  and  even  superstitious  desire  to  be  buried 
near  the  tombs  of  saints  and  heroes,  it  might  be  expected 
that  many  of  his  countrymen  would  choose  their  future 
places  of  repose  in  the  vicinity  of  Joshua’s  tomb. 

Tibneh  is  one  of  the  few  places  in  Palestine  which  have 
no  history.  In  the  Roman  period  it  was  on  the  high  road 
from  Jerusalem  to  Antipatris  and  Caesarea,  and  it  may 
therefore  have  been  visited  by  St.  Paul.  At  present  its 
tombs  and  an  ancient  oak,  which  is  believed  to  be  the 
oldest  and  largest  in  all  Palestine,  are  its  only  objects  of 
interest. 

Returning  to  Beitin  and  continuing  along  the  direct 
road  to  Samaria,  after  proceeding  about  ten  miles  north- 


352 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


ward  we  have  on  our  left  tTiljcdicij  the  Gilgal  from 
which  Elijah  u  went  down ”  to  Bethel  (2  Kings  ii :  2). 
But  where  is  the  ancient  and  renowned  sanctuary  of 
Shiloh  ?  Until  Dr.  Robinson  followed  the  exact  words 
of  Scripture  in  his  investigations,  that  question  could  not 
be  answered  as  it  is  now  answered  to  the  perfect  satisfac¬ 
tion  of  the  learned.  In  the  book  of  Judges  (ch.  xxi :  19), 
Shiloh  is  said  to  be  u  on  the  north  side  of  Bethel,  on  the  east 
side  of  the  highway  that  goeth  up  from  Bethel  to  Shechem, 
and  on  the  south  of  Lebonah.”  Following  this  indication 
Dr.  Robinson  a  few  hours  after  leaving  Beitin  turned 
aside  to  the  east  of  the  highway,  and  continuing  north¬ 
ward  he  found  Seilun ,  the  situation  of  which  perfectly 
corresponds  with  the  Biblical  indications  of  the  situation 
of  Shiloh,  and  the  name  of  which  is  clearly  the  ancient 
name  in  a  more  modern  form.  But  as  if  to  make  his 
assurance  of  the  identity  of  Seilun  with  Shiloh  doubly 
sure,  he  was  fortunate  enough  in  the  same  excursion  to 
find  JEl-Lebbun ,  the  Lebonah  of  which  he  was  in  search, 
north  of  Seilun  and  somewhat  to  the  left  of  the  highway. 
Rarely  has  patient  and  intelligent  investigation  been  more 
happily  or  more  completely  rewarded. 

During  the  period  of  the  Conquest  the  Tabernacle  of 
God  was  kept  at  Gilgal  by  the  Jordan.  It  was  thence 
removed  to  Shiloh  ( J osh.  xviii :  1),  and  there  it  remained, 
with  the  exception  of  a  space  during  which  it  appears  to 
have  been  at  Bethel  (Judg.  xx :  26-28),  until  the  con¬ 
secration  of  Solomon’s  Temple.  It  was  at  Shiloh  that  the 
annual  feasts  of  the  Mosaic  law  were  celebrated,  and  it 
was  during  the  festivities  of  one  of  them  that  the  remnant 
of  the  Benjamites,  with  the  approval  of  their  fellow 
Israelites,  rushed  in  and  carried  off  wives  from  among 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  853 


the  maidens  who  were  dancing  in  the  plain  (Judg.  xxi : 
19—23).  It  was  to  Shiloh  that  the  pious  Elkanah  went 
yearly  to  offer  sacrifice  ;  it  was  there  that  his  wife  Hannah 
prayed  in  bitterness  of  spirit  and  received  from  the  priest 
Eli  the  assurance  that  her  prayer  had  been  answered; 
and  it  was  there  that  she  left  her  son  to  be  brought  up 
in  the  House  of  the  Lord  (1  Sam.  i).  It  was  at  Shiloh 
too  that  the  sons  of  Eli  disgraced  their  calling  and  pro¬ 
faned  the  sanctuary  by  their  wickedness  (1  Sam.  ii :  12) ; 
and  it  was  from  Shiloh  that  they  took  the  Ark  of  God  as 
a  talisman  of  victory  into  battle  with  the  Philistines  (1 
Sam.  iv :  4-5).  When  he  heard  that  the  Ark  of  God 
was  taken  by  the  Philistines  Eli  died,  and  the  rule  of 
Samuel  as  priest  and  judge  of  Israel  began  (1  Sam.  iv : 
18).  The  ark  never  returned  to  Shiloh.  The  shrine 
was  forsaken  (Psalms  xxvii :  60)  and  the  priestly  sacri¬ 
fices  were  offered  now  at  Mizpah  (1  Sam.  vii :  9),  now  at 
Ramah  (1  Sam.  ix :  12,  x :  13),  and  again  at  Gilgal  (1 
Sam.  x :  8,  xi :  15).  The  Tabernacle  itself  was  removed 
and  for  a  time  rested  at  Nob  (1  Sam.  xxi :  1-6).  At 
length  the  ark  and  the  altar  were  brought  together  in 
the  Temple  of  Solomon ;  but  the  glory  of  Shiloh  was 
departed,  and  so  low  was  that  once  favored  shrine  abased 
that  the  Prophet  Jeremiah  makes  it  a  terrible  illustration 
of  the  unsparing  justice  of  God.  u  Go  ye  now,’7  says  the 
prophet,  u  unto  my  place  which  was  in  Shiloh,  where 
I  set  my  name  at  the  first,  and  see  what  I  did  to  it  for 
the  wickedness  of  my  people  Israel”  (Jer.  vii :  12). 

u  For  the  purposes  to  which  Shiloh  was  devoted,”  says 
Dr.  Hackett,  who  visited  the  spot,  u  it  was  not  unwisely 
chosen.  It  was  secluded,  and  therefore  favorable  to  acts 

of  worship  and  religious  study,  in  which  the  youth  of 

23 


354 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


scholars  and  devotees  like  Samuel  was  to  be  spent.  Yearly 
festivals  were  celebrated  there  and  brought  together  as¬ 
semblages  which  would  need  the  supplies  of  water  and  pas¬ 
turage  so  easily  obtained  in  such  a  place.  Terraces  are 
still  visible  on  the  sides  of  the  rocky  hills,  which  show  that 
every  foot  and  inch  of  the  soil  once  teemed  with  verdure 
and  fertility.  The  ceremonies  of  such  occasions  consisted 
largely  of  processions  and  dances,  and  the  place  afforded 
ample  scope  for  such  movements.  The  surrounding  hills 
served  as  an  amphitheatre,  whence  the  spectators  could 
look  and  have  the  entire  scene  under  their  eyes.  The 
position  too  in  times  of  sudden  danger  admitted  of  an 
easy  defense,  as  it  was  a  hill  itself  and  the  neighboring 
hills  could  be  turned  into  bulwarks.  To  its  other  advan¬ 
tages  we  should  add  that  of  its  central  position  for  the 
Hebrews  on  the  west  of  the  Jordan.  ‘It  was  equidis¬ 
tant/  says  Tristram,  1  from  north  and  south,  and  easily 
accessible  to  the  trans-Jordanic  tribes.’  An  air  of  op¬ 
pressive  stillness  hangs  now  over  all  the  scene,  and  adds 
force  to  the  reflection  that  truly  the  ‘  oracles  ’  so  long 
consulted  there  1  are  dumb  /  they  had  fulfilled  their  pur¬ 
pose,  and  given  place  to  1  a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy.’  ” 
Of  the  immediate  features  of  Shiloh,  Dr.  Hackett 
says  :  “  The  contour  of  the  region  indicates  very  clearly 
where  the  ancient  town  must  have  stood.  A  tell ,  or 
moderate  hill,  rises  from  an  uneven  plain  surrounded  by 
other  higher  hills,  except  a  narrow  valley  on  the  south  j 
which  hill  would  naturally  be  chosen  as  the  principal 
site  of  the  town.  The  Tabernacle  may  have  been 
pitched  on  this  eminence,  where  it  would  be  a  con¬ 
spicuous  object  on  every  side.  The  ruins  found  there 
at  present  are  very  inconsiderable.  They  consist 


FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  BORDER  OF  SAMARIA.  355 


chiefly  of  the  remains  of  a  comparatively  modern  vil¬ 
lage,  with  which  some  large  stones  and  fragments  of 
columns  are  intermixed,  evidently  from  much  earlier 
times.  Near  a  ruined  mosque  flourishes  an  immense  oak, 
or  terebinth  tree,  the  branches  of  which  the  winds  of 
centuries  have  swayed.  Just  beyond  the  precincts  of  the 
hill  stands  a  dilapidated  edifice,  which  combines  some  of 
the  architectural  properties  of  a  fortress  and  a  church. 
At  the  distance  of  about  fifteen  minutes  from  the  main 
site  is  a  fountain,  which  is  approached  through  a  narrow 
dale.  Its  water  is  abundant,  and  according  to  a  practice 
very  common  in  the  East  flows  first  into  a  pool  or  well, 
and  thence  into  a  larger  reservoir  from  which  flocks  and 
herds  are  watered.  This  fountain,  which  would  be  so 
natural  a  resort  for  a  festal  party,  may  have  been  the 
place  where  the  1  daughters  of  Shiloh  ’  were  dancing 
when  they  were  surprised  and  borne  off  by  their  captors. 
In  this  vicinity  are  rock-hewn  sepulchres  in  which  the 
bodies  of  some  of  the  unfortunate  house  of  Eli  may  have 
been  laid  to  rest.  There  was  a  Jewish  tradition  that  Eli 
and  his  sons  were  buried  there.’7 

After  passing  and  perhaps  visiting  many  of  these 
sacred  scenes,  Jesus  and  his  disciples  would  come  into  a 
more  and  more  inviting  country,  and  at  the  distance  of 
twenty-five  miles  in  a  direct  line  from  Jerusalem,  but 
much  longer  by  the  way  they  had  to  come,  they  would  at 
length  reach  Akrabbin ,  the  Scorpion  Hills,  on  the  border 
of  Samaria. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


SAMARIA. 

Samaria  was  the  name  given  by  Omri,  King  of  Israel, 
to  the  city  which  he  built  for  a  royal  residence,  and  the 
name  of  the  city  was  frequently  applied  to  the  kingdom 
of  which  Samaria  became  the  capital.  After  the  cap¬ 
tivity  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  the  Cuthite  immigrants,  who 
were  brought  into  the  depopulated  country,  were  called 
Samaritans,  and  the  district  which  they  occupied  was 
called  Samaria.  Finally,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  Samaria 
was  the  name  of  a  Roman  province,  which  covered  sub¬ 
stantially  the  country  of  the  Samaritans.  Through  all 
these  changes  the  city  of  Samaria  was  the  geographical, 
and  generally  also  the  political,  centre  of  the  kingdom, 
district  or  province  which  bore  its  name. 

As  Samaria  was  not  built  until  fifty  years  after  the 
separation  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  from  that  of  Judah, 
it  is  not  one  of  the  more  ancient  cities  of  Palestine.  In 
the  memoirs  of  the  Patriarchs,  Shechem  is  the  only  city  in 
that  vicinity  of  which  we  have  any  account.  Shechem, 
and  not  Samaria,  was  the  first  capital  of  the  kingdom  of 
Israel,  and  in  our  times,  under  its  modern  name  of  Nablous 
(or  Nabulus ),  it  is  a  prosperous  town,  while  Samaria, 
now  Sebastiyehj  is  a  comparatively  unimportant  village. 

From  the  plain-like  table-land,  midway  between  the 

Jordan  and  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  rise  two  mountain 
(  356  ) 


SAMARIA. 


357 


heights  boldly  confronting  each  other  on  the  north  and 
the  south,  and  separated  from  each  other  at  their  nearest 
point  by  a  narrow  glen  three-quarters  of  a  mile  in  length 
and  only  about  one  hundred  yards  in  width.  The  north¬ 
ern  mountain  is  Jebel  Sulemiyeh ,  the  Mount  Ebal  of  the 
Bible  ;  the  mountain  facing  it  is  Jebel  Et-Tor ,  the  Biblical 
Mount  Gerizim.  The  height  of  Mount  Ebal  is  3032  feet, 
and  the  height  of  Mount  Gerizim  is  2836  feet,  above  sea 
level.  In  the  sheltered  glen  between  them,  and  nearly 
1900  feet  above  sea  level,  lay  Shechem  peacefully  se¬ 
cluded  in  its  mountain  nest.  At  its  eastern  end  the 
glen  quickly  widens  and  sinks  gently  to  the  level  of  a 
plain  called  the  Plain  of  El-Makhna ,  which  is  undoubt¬ 
edly  the  u  place  of  Sichem ”  mentioned  in  patriarchal 
history  (Gen.  xii :  6). 

On  a  little  knoll,  close  by  the  foot  of  Mount  Gerizim, 
not  quite  1200  yards  in  a  southeasterly  direction  from 
Nabulus,  is  Bir  Yakub ,  Jacob’s  Well.  It  is  on  the  direct 
road  from  Jerusalem  to  Galilee,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  it  is  indeed  the  well  which  was  dug  by  the  patriarch, 
and  besides  which  our  Saviour  sat  down  to  rest. 

There  is  more  doubt  about  the  u  city  of  Samaria,  called 
Sychar  ”  (John  iv  :  5),  at  which  the  well  is  said  to  have 
been.  The  name  of  Sychar  seems  to  have  been  pre¬ 
served  in  that  of  the  village  of  Asker ,  which  is  situated 
at  the  foot  of  Mount  Ebal,  nearly  1500  yards  due  east 
of  Nabulus  ;  but  Jacob’s  Well  is  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  plain  from  Asker,  and  about  1300  yards  distant  from 
it,  and  it  is  unlikely  that  the  Samaritan  woman  would  go 
so  far  for  water  in  a  district  in  which  water  is  so  abund¬ 
ant.  It  is  not  improbable,  however,  that  in  the  innumer¬ 
able  wars  which  have  swept  that  region,  the  Sychar  of 


358 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


the  gospel  has  been  swept  away,  and  that  some  of  its  in¬ 
habitants  when  they  rebuilt  it,  not  on  the  same  spot  but 
not  far  from  it,  may  have  cherished  the  memory  of  their 
former  home  by  giving  the  old  name  to  the  new  village. 

Nearly  midway  between  Jacob’s  Well  and  Asker  is  a 
tomb,  evidently  by  no  means  ancient,  which  is  pointed 
out  as  the  tomb  of  the  Patriarch  Joseph  $  and  in  the 
Plain  of  Makhna,  a  little  more  than  three  miles  south  of 
Nabulus,  is  Salim ,  which  may  very  possibly  be  the  former 
dwelling  of  u  Melchizedek,  King  of  Salem,”  the  u  priest 
of  the  most  High  God,”  who  u  brought  forth  bread  and 
wdne  ”  to  Abraham,  and  blessed  him  and  received  tithes 
from  him  (Gen.  xiv  :  18-20).  Salim  is  also  one  of  sev¬ 
eral  places  which  have  been  supposed  to  be  referred  to 
in  the  gospel  where  we  read  that  u  John  also  was  baptiz¬ 
ing  in  iEnon  near  to  Salim,  because  there  was  much  water 
there  ”  (John  iii :  23). 

Westward  from  Nabulus  the  land  sinks  irregularly 
away  toward  the  Mediterranean,  here  swelling  into  hills 
and  there  falling  to  a  lower  level  as  it  nears  the  sea 
until  it  ends  beyond  the  hills  of  Ephraim  in  the  Plain  of 
Sharon.  About  six  miles  to  the  northwest  of  Nabulus, 
where  the  general  level  of  the  land  is  lower  than  that  of 
the  Plain  of  Makhna,  there  is  a  broad  and  wide  basin  en¬ 
circled  with  hills.  From  the  centre  of  this  basin  an  ob¬ 
long  hill,  with  steep  sides  and  a  long  flat  top,  rises  to  a 
height  of  1540  feet.  On  the  summit  of  that  central  hill 
once  stood  the  city  of  Samaria. 

After  this  brief  description  of  the  relative  position  of 
these  places,  we  may  proceed  to  the  facts  and  events 
which  have  made  that  narrow  region  so  profoundly  inter¬ 
esting  to  the  Christian  and  the  student. 


SAMARIA. 


359 


To  begin  with  Shechem  and  its  neighborhood,  the  dis¬ 
trict  surrounding  it  has  always  been  a  u  delightsome 
land/7  so  far  as  it  has  lain  in  nature  to  make  it  so.  From 
Isaiah  we  hear  of  the  thickness  of  the  forests  of  Sama¬ 
ria,  the  beauty  of  its  flowers,  the  fatness  of  its  valleys 
and  the  strength  of  its  wine  (Isa.  ix  :  18 ;  xxviii :  1). 
Josephus  says  that  in  his  time  the  hills  and  valleys  of 
Samaria  were  extremely  fruitful,  well-watered  and  re¬ 
freshed  with  copious  rains.  In  the  autumn  an  immense 
number  of  trees,  both  wild  and  cultivated,  were  laden 
with  all  varieties  of  fruits  j  and  by  reason  of  the  abund¬ 
ance  and  excellence  of  the  grass  the  cattle  yielded  greater 
quantities  of  milk  than  in  less  favored  regions.  These 
were  u  the  blessings  of  Joseph  v  awarded  to  him  by  the 
testament  of  his  dying  father  (Gen.  xlix  :  26),  and  then 
as  now  they  were  both  rich  and  beautiful.  An  enthu¬ 
siastic  observer  expatiates  on  the  clumps  of  lofty  walnut 
trees  and  the  thick  groves  of  almond,  pomegranate,  olive, 
pear  and  plum  trees  which  adorn  the  outskirts  of  Nabulus 
and  run  toward  the  opening  of  the  valley.  In  summer¬ 
time  the  woods  are  melodious  with  the  songs  of  birds. 
The  familiar  note  of  the  blackbird,  the  glorious  song  of 
the  lark  high  in  the  heavens,  and  the  chirping  of  innu¬ 
merable  finches  delight  the  ear  as  the  variety  of  color  de¬ 
lights  the  eye.  Brooks  of  clear  mountain  water,  fringed 
with  cyclamens,  dwarf  tulips  and  red  anemones,  splash 
and  murmur  on  their  way  to  the  unseen  Jordan.  The 
traveller  repeats  and  justifies  the  saying  of  Mohammed 
that  u  the  land  of  Syria  is  beloved  of  Allah  beyond  all 
other  lands  j  in  Syria,  the  district  that  he  most  loves  is 
the  district  of  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  the  district  of  Jeru¬ 
salem  the  place  in  which  he  most  delights  is  the  mount- 


360 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


ain  of  Nabulus !”  In  such  a  scene  even  the  barren 
sterility  of  the  mountain  sides  sets  off  the  luxuriant  fer¬ 
tility  of  the  plain.  u  There  is  nothing  finer  in  all  Pales¬ 
tine,”  says  Dr.  Clarke,  u  than  a  view  of  Nabulus  from 
the  heights  around  it.  As  the  traveller  descends  toward 
it  from  the  hills  it  appears  luxuriantly  embosomed  in  the 
most  delightful  and  fragrant  bowers,  half  concealed  by 
rich  gardens  and  by  stately  trees  collected  into  groves  all 
around  the  bold  and  beautiful  valley  in  which  it  stands.” 
Says  Dr.  Robinson,  a  We  saw  nothing  to  compare  with 
it  in  all  Palestine.  Here  beneath  the  shadow  of  an  im¬ 
mense  mulberry  tree  by  the  side  of  a  purling  rill,  we 
pitched  our  tent  for  the  remainder  of  the  day  and  the 

night . We  rose  early,  awakened  by  the  songs  of 

nightingales  and  other  birds,  of  which  the  gardens  around 
us  were  full.  The  awful  gorge  of  the  Leontes  is  grand 
and  bold  beyond  description  ;  the  hills  of  Lebanon  over 
against  Sidon  are  magnificent  and  sublime  ;  the  valley 
of  the  hill  of  Naphtali  is  rich  in  wild  oak  forest  and 
brushwood;  those  of  Asher,  the  Wady  Kara  for  example, 
present  a  beautiful  combination  of  wood  and  mountain 
stream,  with  all  its  magnificence  of  undisturbed  original¬ 
ity.  .  .  .  Carmel,  with  its  wilderness  of  timber,  trees  and 
shrubs,  of  plants  and  bushes,  still  answers  to  its  ancient 
reputation  for  magnificence.  But  the  Vale  of  Shechem 
differs  from  them  all.  6  There  is  no  wilderness  here/ 
says  Van  de  Velde,  c  there  are  no  wild  thickets,  yet  there 
is  always  verdure,  always  shade,  not  of  the  oak,  the  tere¬ 
binth  and  the  carob  tree,  but  of  the  olive  grove,  so  soft 
in  color  so  picturesque  in  form  that  for  its  sake  we  can 
willingly  dispense  with  all  other  wood.  There  is  a  sin¬ 
gularity  about  the  Vale  of  Shechem,  and  that  is  the  pe- 


% 


>■ 


SAMARIA. 


361 


culiar  coloring  which  objects  assume  in  it.  You  know 
that  wherever  there  is  water  the  air  becomes  charged 
with  watery  particles,  and  that  distant  objects  beheld 
through  that  medium  seem  to  be  enveloped  in  a  pale  blue 
or  gray  mist,  such  as  contributes  not  a  little  to  give  a 
charm  to  the  landscape.  But  it  is  precisely  those  atmos¬ 
pheric  tints  that  we  miss  so  much  in  Palestine.  ...  It  is 
otherwise  in  the  Yale  of  Shechem,  at  least  in  the  morn¬ 
ing  and  the  evening.  Here  the  exhalations  remain,  hov¬ 
ering  among  the  branches  and  leaves  of  the  olive  trees, 
and  hence  that  lovely  bluish  haze.  The  valley  is  far 
from  broad,  not  exceeding  in  some  places  a  few  hundred 
feet.  This  you  find  generally  enclosed  on  all  sides  ;  here 
likewise  the  vapors  are  condensed.  And  so  you  advance 
under  the  shade  of  the  foliage  along  the  living  waters, 
and  charmed  by  the  melody  of  a  host  of  singing-birds — 
for  they  too  know  where  to  find  their  best  quarters — 
while  the  perspective  fades  away  and  is  lost  in  the  damp 
vapory  atmosphere.  Apart  entirely  from  the  historic 
interest  of  the  place,  such  are  the  natural  attractions  of 
this  •  favorite  resort  of  the  patriarch  of  old,  such  the 
beauty  of  the  scenery  and  the  indescribable  air  of  tran¬ 
quility  and  repose  which  hangs  over  the  scene,  that  the 
traveller  anxious  as  he  may  be  to  hasten  forward  in  his 
journey  feels  that  he  would  gladly  linger  and  could  pass 
here  days  and  weeks  without  impatience.’  ” 

Into  this  wilderness  of  beauty  the  Patriarchs  Abraham 
and  Lot  came  wandering  with  their  flocks  and  herds,  and 
in  u  the  place  of  Sichem  ”  was  the  first  spot  of  all  the 
Promised  Land  in  which  the  Father  of  the  Faithful  built 
an  altar  “  unto  the  Lord  who  had  appeared  unto  him  ” 
(Glen,  xii :  6-8).  When  Jacob  returned  from  Padan-aram 


862 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


Iig  too  ^  came  to  Shalem,  a  city  of  Shechem,  ....  and. 
pitched  his  tent  before  the  city  ”  (Gen.  xxxiii :  18).  This 
Shalem  can  hardly  refer  to  the  Salim  which  is  now  in  the 
Plain  of  Makhnah,  since  a  better  translation  of  the  original 
Hebrew  would  be  that  u  Jacob  came  safe  to  a  city  of  She¬ 
chem.”  However  that  may  be,  Jacob  tarried  long  in 
that  place.  Pie  bought  there  the  only  spot  in  all  the  land 
of  Canaan  that  he  ever  owned,  the  same  u  parcel  of  a 
field  ”  which  he  gave  to  his  son  Joseph  (Gen.  xxxiii :  18, 
19),  and  in  which  the  children  of  Israel  buried  Joseph 
(Josh,  xxiv  :  32).  In  that  same  jiarcel  of  ground,  to 
avoid  trouble  with  the  owners  of  the  numerous  springs 
around  it,  Jacob  dug  a  well  for  the  use  of  his  flocks  and 
herds ;  and  then,  on  his  own  land,  near  his  own  well  and 
beside  his  own  tent,  he  reared  his  household  altar,  El- 
elohe-Israel  (Gen.  xxxiii :  20).  There  for  many  a  year 
the  patriarch  dwelt  in  peace,  while  all  his  sons  except 
Benjamin  the  youngest  grew  to  manhood  around  him. 

In  the  time  of  Jacob,  Shechem  though  it  is  called  a 
u  city  ”  can  have  been  no  more  than  a  village  inhabited 
ky  a  settlement  of  those  Hivites  of  whom  so  little  is 
known.  Whether  it  took  its  name  from  Shechem  the 
son  of  Hamor,  or  whether  the  man  took  his  name  from 
the  city,  we  do  not  know.  Either  way  Shechem  was  an 
appropriate  name  for  a  town  situated  on  the  shoulder ,  or 
saddle ,  or  ridge  of  the  tableland  which  from  that  height 
drains  westward  to  the  Mediterranean  and  eastward  to 
the  Jordan.  The  Shechemites  appear  to  have  been  a 
simple  and  kindly  people  j  and  although  one  of  their 
number  was  guilty  of  a  deadly  outrage  to  the  family  of 
J acob,  he  and  they  were  ready  to  make  all  possible  repa¬ 
ration.  Of  the  crafty  treason  by  which  the  sons  of  Jacob 


SAMAEIA. 


863 


were  enabled  to  assassinate  the  Shechemites  and  plunder 
their  town,  the  aged  patriarch  told  only  the  truth  when 
he  said,  u  Cursed  be  their  anger,  for  it  was  fierce  j  and 
their  wrath,  for  it  was  cruel.  With  their  assembly  mine 
honor,  be  not  thou  united  ”  (Gen.  xxxiv  :  xlix  :  6,  7). 

Before  his  death  Moses  solemnly  charged  the  children 
of  Israel  that  as  soon  as  they  had  entered  the  Promised 
Land  they  should  march  to  the  very  heart  of  it,  and  per¬ 
form  a  sublime  act  of  national  worship.  u  When  the 
Lord  thy  God  hath  brought  thee  in  unto  the  land  whither 
thou  goest  to  possess  it,  thou  shalt  put  the  blessing  upon 
Mount  Gerizim  and  the  curse  upon  Mount  Ebal”  (Deut. 
xi :  29).  They  were  to  take  great  stones  and  cover  them 
with  plaster,  and  in  the  plaster,  which  when  dry  would 
be  as  hard  as  the  stones  themselves,  they  were  to  write 
all  the  words  of  the  divine  law.  They  were  also  to  build 
an  altar  and  to  offer  burnt  offerings  and  peace  offerings 
(Deut.  xxvii :  2-8).  Immediately  after  the  destruction 
of  Ai,  Joshua  performed  this  sacred  duty  to  the  letter.  In 
the  presence  of  the  children  of  Israel,  their  elders,  their 
officers,  their  judges,  and  even  of  the  women  and  the 
little  ones,  he  read  the  law  aloud  and  proclaimed  the 
blessings  and  the  curses  which  should  light  upon  the 
faithful  and  the  disobedient  respectively.  In  the  narrow 
glen  between  the  two  great  mountains,  the  ark  and  the 
altar  of  God  were  placed  in  full  view  of  the  people,  who 
were  ranged,  line  above  line,  along  the  steep  sides  of  the 
hills  and  eastward  in  the  widening  vale — a  natural  theatre 
in  which  the  voice  of  one  man  might  be  heard  by  hun¬ 
dreds  of  thousands.  So  while  the  priests  stood  round 
about  the  altar  and  the  smoke  of  burnt  offering  and 
peace  offering  and  incense  floated  heavenward,  Joshua 


i 


L 


864 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


pronounced  from  Mount  Gerizim  the  blessings  which 
should  come  upon  the  faithful ;  and  at  every  benediction 
all  the  people  cried,  Amen  !  Then  with  like  fidelity  he 
spake  from  Mount  Ebal  the  curses  that  should  blight  the 
disobedient ;  and  again  with  one  voice  echoing  from 
mount  to  mount  the  people  answered,  Amen !  Thus 
were  the  heathen  notified  that  Israel  had  come  to  take 
possession  of  the  land  that  God  had  promised  to  the 
patriarchs  5  and  at  the  same  time  Israel  was  advertised 
of  the  terms  on  which  that  good  land  could  remain  to 
them  u  a  possession  forever  ”  (Josh,  viii  :  30-35).  Once 
again  Joshua  assembled  the  tribes  of  Israel  to  meet  him 
u  before  God ”  at  Shechem.  His  work  was  done ;  the 
land  was  theirs 5  for  his  own  portion  he  had  been  con¬ 
tent  to  take  the  quiet  and  secluded  crags  of  Timnath- 
serah 5  he  would  soon  be  resting  there  u  on  the  north 
side  of  the  hill  of  Gaash.”  But  before  he  left  them  to 
the  good  and  evil  which  the  future  hid  from  him  and 
them,  he  gathered  them  together  and  recounted  all  that 
God  had  done  for  them.  Once  more  he  u  set  them  a 
statute  and  an  ordinance  at  Shechem.”  By  the  sanctuary 
of  Jehovah,  which  at  least  on  one  occasion  stood  on  Mount 
Gerizim,  he  raised  another  stone  for  a  memorial  witness 
that  he  had  done  his  part  between  God  and  them.  Under 
the  u  great  oak  ”  near  by  he  bade  them  farewell  5  and 
u  so  Joshua  let  the  people  depart  every  man  unto  his  own 
inheritance  ”  (Josh.  xxiv). 

In  the  time  of  the  Judges  Shechem  was  a  place  of 
disquiet  and  crime.  Abimelech,  the  slave-born  son  of 
Gideon,  contrived  to  seduce  the  Shechemites,  among 
whom  his  mother  had  been  born,  to  make  him  king  over 
them.  With  their  aid  he  put  to  death  all  the  other  sons 


SAMARIA. 


365 


of  Gideon  except  young  Jotham,  who  escaped  5  and  so 
for  a  while  Abimelech  reigned  at  Shechem.  It  was  then 
that  Jotham  made  his  appearance  in  the  heights  of  Mount 
Gerizim  above  the  city  and  spoke  the  bitter  fable  of  the 
trees  that  u  on  a  time  went  forth  to  anoint  a  king  over 
them.”  His  illustrations  were  all  nigh  at  hand ;  the 
olive  with  its  fatness,  the  fig  tree  with  its  sweetness,  the 
vine  with  its  u  wine  which  cheereth  God  and  man,”  and 
the  bramble  bush,  that  light  and  fruitless  dweller  of  the 
waste — which  dries  up  like  stubble  and  like  stubble  can 
be  kindled  into  sudden  flame  which  as  suddenly  dies  down 
— nothing  could  more  aptly  have  typified  the  vain  man 
whom  the  Shechemites  had  chosen  for  king.  The  short 
reign  of  Abimelech  was  full  of  trouble  for  himself  and  the 
abettors  of  his  crime.  Their  hands  were  soon  turned 
against  each  other,  and  before  his  own  death,  Abimelech, 
the  bramble,  had  razed  Shechem  to  the  ground  and  sown 
its  site  with  salt. 

But  Shechem  sprang  again  from  its  ashes.  It  was  the 
place  appointed  for  the  coronation  of  Rehoboam  the  son 
of  Solomon.  Then,  and  for  the  last  time,  u  all  Israel  ” 
came  together  at  Shechem.  Under  the  leadership  of 
Jeroboam  they  presented  to  the  king  their  dignified 
demand  for  redress  of  grievances ;  and  when  they  heard 
his  threatening  and  insulting  answer  raised  their  fierce 
shout,  u  To  your  tents,  0  Israel !”  That  day  the  king¬ 
doms  of  Israel  and  Judah  were  rent  asunder,  and  the 
curses  of  Ebal  began  to  fall  (1  Kings  xii :  1-21).  Thence¬ 
forward  Shechem  almost  disappears  from  history.  In 
the  northern  kingdom,  of  which  it  was  the  first  capital, 
it  was  soon  supplanted  by  Samaria.  At  the  Captivity  its 
people  shared  the  fate  of  the  rest  of  Israel.  Its  subse- 


i 


366 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


quent  inhabitants  were  imported  foreigners,  not  distin¬ 
guished  from  the  other  u  Samaritans ”  whom  the  Jews 
abhorred. 

Omri,  King  of  Israel,  spent  the  first  years  of  his  reign 
at  a  pleasaunce — or  as  the  Orientals  would  call  it  a  para¬ 
dise— -at  Tirzah,  a  place  of  such  beauty  that  the  author 
of  the  Canticles  compares  his  bride  to  it.  u  Thou  art 
beautiful,  0  my  love,  as  Tirzah  !”  (Cant,  vi :  4.)  After 
six  years  spent  at  Tirzah,  Omri  set  about  building  a  new 
residence  for  his  court.  He  bought  from  its  owner, 
Shemer,  the  hill  which  from  his  name  was  called  in 
Hebrew,  Shomeron,  but  became  in  Chaldee,  Shemrin, 
and  in  Greek,  Samaria  (1  Kings  xvi :  21,  22).  Samaria 
presently  supplanted  Shechem  as  the  capital  of  the  king¬ 
dom.  It  was  in  every  way  as  well  situated.  Its  site 
was  as  beautiful,  the  surrounding  country  was  as  fertile, 
and  its  position  in  a  military  point  of  view  was  incom¬ 
parably  stronger.  Shechem  with  the  heights  of  Mount 
Ebal  and  Mount  Gerizim  on  either  side  of  it  was  utterly 
indefensible,  while  Samaria  with  its  almost  precipitous 
sides  rising  sheer  out  of  the  plain  was  inexpugnable  in 
an  age  in  which  artillery  was  unknown.  It  was  well 
supplied  with  water  from  natural  springs,  and  in  succes¬ 
sive  sieges  it  defied  the  assaults  of  its  enemies  longer 
than  Jerusalem  was  ever  able  to  hold  out  in  like  circum¬ 
stances.  Its  only  danger  lay  in  the  impossibility  of  ob¬ 
taining  supplies  in  case  of  a  close  investment  by  a  numer¬ 
ous  army.  When  first  besieged  by  the  Syrian  king 
Benhadad,  it  was  able  not  only  to  defend  itself  but  to  re¬ 
pulse  the  enemy.  In  a  second  siege  by  the  same  king  it 
suffered  incredible  hardships  through  famine,  until  the 
enemy  fled  panic-stricken  on  a  false  alarm  of  a  night 


SAMAKIA. 


367 


attack  by  fresh  troops  which  were  supposed  to  have  come 
to  the  relief  of  the  city  (2  Kings  vii ;  viii).  The  situa¬ 
tion  of  the  city  during  a  siege  is  well  described  by  Van 
de  Y elde  :  u  As  the  mountains  around  the  hills  of  Shemer,” 
he  says,  u  are  higher  than  that  hill  itself,  the  enemy 
must  have  been  able  to  discover  clearly  the  condition  of 
the  besieged  Samaria.  The  inhabitants,  whether  they 
turned  their  eyes  upward  or  downward, — to  the  surround¬ 
ing  hills  or  into  the  valley, — must  have  seen  all  full  of 
enemies.  The  mountains  and  the  adjacent  circle  of  hills 
were  so  densely  occupied  by  the  enemy  that  not  a  man 
could  pass  through  to  bring  provisions  to  the  beleaguered 
city.  The  Syrians  on  the  hills  must  have  been  able 
from  where  they  stood  plainly  to  see  the  famishing  in¬ 
habitants.” 

In  721  B.  C.  Samaria  was  taken  by  Shalmanezer, 
King  of  Assyria,  after  a  siege  of  three  years  (2  Kings 
xviii  :  9,  10),  and  then  the  inhabitants  were  carried  away 
into  captivity.  With  the  fall  of  Samaria  the  kingdom 
of  Israel  ceased  to  exist.  The  blessings  of  Mount  Geri- 
zim  had  been  despised  and  misused ;  the  curses  of  Mount 
Ebal  were  reaped  in  a  harvest  of  desolation. 

Soon  after  the  fall  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel  begins  the 
history  of  the  strange  people  who  are  known  in  history 
as  the  Samaritans,  and  a  handful  of  whom  still  exist. 
The  Israelites  were  swept  clean  out  of  their  former  ter¬ 
ritories  ;  absolutely  none  were  left.  The  country  would 
have  reverted  into  the  condition  of  a  wilderness  if  a  new 
population  had  not  been  sent  into  it  by  Esarhaddon 
(Ezra  iv  :  2-10).  The  Assyrian  king  u  brought  men 
from  Babylon,  and  from  Cuthah,  and  from  Ava,  and  from 
Hamath,  and  from  Sepharvaim,  and  placed  them  in  the 


368 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


cities  of  Samaria  instead  of  the  children  of  Israel :  and 
they  possessed  Samaria,  and  dwelt  in  the  cities  thereof v 
(2  Kings  xvii :  24).  These  strangers  were  idolaters  of 
course,  and  in  common  with  most  idolaters  they  believed 
in  gods  having  peculiar  powers  over  particular  nations 
and  districts.  Suffering  considerably  from  the  wild  beasts 
with  which  the  desolated  country  had  begun  to  be  in¬ 
fested  and  supposing  themselves  to  be  obnoxious  to  the 
God  of  the  land,  they  appealed  to  Esarhaddon,  and  a 
priest  of  the  captivity  was  sent  to  u  teach  them  the  man¬ 
ner  of  the  God  of  the  land  ”  (2  Kings  xvii :  25-32).  For 
a  time  the  worship  of  Jehovah  was  mingled  with  idolatry  ; 
but  at  length  the  Samaritans  became  entirely  monothe¬ 
istic  and  as  scrupulous  in  their  observance  of  the  law  as 
the  Jews  themselves.  On  the  return  of  the  Judean  cap¬ 
tives  from  Babylon,  the  Samaritans  were  naturally  re¬ 
garded  by  them  as  strangers  and  foreigners ;  and  when 
they  asked  permission  to  join  with  the  Jews  in  rebuild¬ 
ing  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  their  offers  were  disdain¬ 
fully  rejected  (Ezra  iv  :  1).  The  scorn  of  Zerubbabel 
was  returned  with  hatred,  and  the  Samaritans,  who  might 
at  least  have  been  admitted  as  proselytes,  became  for¬ 
midable  and  vexatious  enemies.  Their  first  temple  or 
tabernacle  had  been  at  Bethel  j  they  now  built  a  temple 
at  Mount  Gerizim,  and  after  a  time  Manasseh,  a  lineal  de¬ 
scendant  of  the  priestly  line  of  Aaron,  became  their 
chief  priest.  Many  things  contributed  to  the  upbuilding 
of  the  Samaritan  people  and  their  religion,  such  as  the 
rejection  at  Jerusalem  of  the  priests  who  could  not  prove 
their  priestly  lineage  (Neh.  vii :  60-65),  and  the  con¬ 
tumely  heaped  upon  the  u  mixed  multitude  ”  in  whose 
veins  the  blood  of  the  patriarchs  had  been  mingled  with 


SAMARIA. 


369 


a  baser  stream  (Neh.  xiii :  1-3).  To  these  unfortunates 
Samaria  gave  a  cordial  welcome  and  full  credit  to  their 
genealogical  pretensions.  Discontented  Jews  always 
found  a  hospitable  asylum  in  Samaria  5  and  in  time,  by 
intermarriage  with  Jewish  outcasts  and  renegades  the 
whole  body  of  the  Samaritan  people  must  have  come  to 
be  of  Israelitish  blood.  By  and  by  a  belief  sprang  up 
among  them  that  they,  and  not  the  Jews,  were  the  true 
representatives  of  Israel  j  and  that  the  tempi  3  on  Mount 
Gerizim,  not  the  temple  on  Mount  Moriah,  was  the  one 
place  which  God  had  chosen  for  his  sanctuary.  They 
maintained  the  law  in  its  purity,  holding  and  observing 
the  books  of  the  Pentateuch  only,  and  they  accused  the 
Jews  of  adulterating  the  truth  by  admitting  to  their 
canon  many  other  books  which  the  purer  Samaritans  re¬ 
jected  and  anathematized.  Thus  from  generation  to 
generation  the  feud  grew  in  intensity  of  bitterness.  At  the 
first  opportunity  John  Hyrcanus  destroyed  the  temple  on 
Gerizim  and  leveled  the  city  of  Samaria  to  the  ground, 
and  this  act  of  hostility  was  never  forgiven.  After  its 
destruction  by  Hyrcanus,  Samaria  was  rebuilt  by  the 
Roman  general  Gabinius.  The  Emperor  Augustus  gave 
it  to  Herod,  by  whom  it  was  splendidly  restored  and  forti¬ 
fied,  and  by  whom  also  it  was  called  Sebaste  (the  Greek 
for  Augusta)  in  honor  of  his  patron.  A  large  colony  of 
soldiers  and  peasants  was  established  there,  much  to  the 
satisfaction  and  equally  to  the  profit  of  the  inhabitants. 
Rejoicing  in  their  own  prosperity  and  confident  in  the 
strong  protection  they  enjoyed,  the  Samaritans  took 
every  opportunity  to  vex  the  people  who  still  treated 
them  with  implacable  scorn  j  in  every  way  they  en¬ 
deavored  to  disturb  the  rival  worship  of  the  Jews.  They 

24 


370 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


observed  the  signal-fires  upon  the  mountain  tops,  the 
flaming  telegraph  by  which  the  announcement  of  the 
rising  of  the  paschal  moon  was  flashed  from  Jerusalem 
to  the  brethren  of  the  dispersion  at  Babylon,  and  they 
lit  false  fires  to  deceive  the  Babylonish  Jews.  Within 
the  lifetime  of  our  Lord  (A.  D.  10)  they  were  accused 
of  defiling  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  itself. 

The  submissive  alliance  of  Samaria  was  assured  to 
foreign  invaders  whom  the  Jews  abhorred.  Thus  the  Sa¬ 
maritans  espoused  the  cause  and  enjoyed  the  patronage 
of  Herod  and  the  Romans,  while  the  Jews  were  kept 
down  with  an  iron  hand.  Nothing  could  exceed  the 
hatred  of  the  Jews  for  the  Samaritans.  The  feeling  of 
the  Jews  of  our  Lord’s  time  was  well  expressed  in  the  logic 
of  the  taunt,  u  Thou  art  a  Samaritan  and  hast  a  devil !” 
No  Israelite  could  lawfully  eat  even  a  mouthful  of  food 
that  had  been  touched  by  a  Samaritan,  for  to  do  so  was 
as  if  he  ate  the  flesh  of  swine.  No  Samaritan  was  allowed 
to  become  a  proselyte.  A  Jew  might  be  friendly  with 
a  heathen  but  never  with  a  Samaritan,  and  all  bargains 
made  with  one  were  invalid.  The  testimony  of  a  Sa¬ 
maritan  could  not  be  taken  in  a  Jewish  court,  and  to 
receive  him  into  one’s  house  would  bring  down  the  curse 
of  God.  It  had  even  become  a  subject  of  warm  contro¬ 
versy  how  far  a  Jew  might  use  food  or  fruit  grown  on 
Samaritan  soil.  What  grows  on  trees  or  in  fields  was 
reckoned  clean,  but  flour  and  wine  were  doubtful.  A 
Samaritan  egg  as  the  hen  laid  it  could  not  be  unclean, 
but  what  of  a  boiled  egg?  Yet  interest  and  convenience 
strove  by  subtle  casuistry  to  invent  excuses  for  what 
intercourse  was  unavoidable.  The  country  of  the  Cuth- 
ites  was  clean,  so  that  a  Jew  might  without  scruple 


SAMARIA. 


871 


gather  and  eat  its  produce.  The  waters  of  Samaria  were 

clean,  so  that  a  Jew  might  drink  them  or  wash  in  them. 

Their  dwellings  were  clean,  so  that  he  might  enter  them 

and  eat  and  lodge  in  them.  Their  roads  were  clean,  so 

that  the  dust  of  them  did  not  defile  a  Jew’s  feet.  The 

rabbis  even  went  so  far  in  their  contradictory  utter- 

%/ 

ances  as  to  say  that  the  victuals  of  the  Cuthites  were 
allowed  if  none  of  their  wine  or  vinegar  were  mixed  with 
them,  and  even  their  unleavened  bread  was  to  be  reckoned 
fit  for  use  at  the  Passover.  Opinions  thus  wavered,  but 
as  a  rule  the  harsher  feelings  prevailed. 

The  assertion  by  the  Samaritans  of  a  peculiar  sanctity 
in  the  seat  of  their  temple  at  Mount  Gerizim  was  not 
destitute  of  foundation.  Old  traditions,  antedating  the 
time  when  the  tabernacle  of  God  stood  there  in  the  life¬ 
time  of  Joshua,  clung  around  that  ancient  sanctuary  and 
cling  around  it  still.  To  this  day  there  are  some  among 
the  learned  who  believe  that  Mount  Gerizim,  and  not  the 
eastern  hill  of  Jerusalem,  is  the  Mount  Moriah  on  which 
Abraham  was  bidden  to  offer  up  his  son  Isaac,  which  the 
aged  patriarch  himself  called  Jehovah-jireh,  and  which 
the  sacred  writer  calls  u  the  Mount  of  the  Lord  ”  (Gen. 
xxii :  1-14).  It  was  also  believed,  and  it  is  still  by  some 
believed,  to  have  been  the  meeting-place  of  Abraham  with 
Melchizedek,King  of  Salem,  to  whom  Abraham  paid  tithes 
(Gen.  xiv  :  17-20),  and  after  whose  u  order  ”  the  Messiah 
was  to  be  u  a  priest  forever.”  If  a  writer  like  Dean  Stanley 
after  careful  investigation,  and  on  purely  critical  grounds, 
could  declare  his  belief  in  these  traditions,  to  the  Samaritans 
they  must  have  seemed  indisputable.  But  the  traditions 
of  the  Samaritans  went  far  beyond  the  limit  of  critical 
probability.  They  represented  Gerizim  as  the  paradise 


872 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


in  which  Adam  was  made  of  the  dust  of  its  soil.  To  this 
day  their  descendants  show  the  spot  on  which  he  built 
his  first  altar,  and  also  the  spot  where  Seth  raised  his 
altar  to  God.  Moreover  Gerizim  was  Ararat,  the  moun¬ 
tain  on  which  the  ark  of  Noah  rested  after  the  flood,  the 
one  pure  spot  on  all  the  earth  which  the  waters  of  the 
deluge  did  not  cover  and  which  the  corpses  of  the  dead 
did  not  defile.  It  was  there  that  Noah  and  his  family 
came  forth  from  the  ark,  and  every  Samaritan  could  show 
the  seven  steps  of  the  altar  on  which  he  offered  a  sacri¬ 
fice.  Not  only  was  the  place  of  Abraham’s  altar,  Jehovah- 
jireh,  known  to  them  j  Gerizim  was  the  true  Bethel,  and 
they  knew  the  broad  stone  on  which  the  head  of  Jacob 
rested  when  he  saw  the  vision  of  the  ladder  reaching 
from  earth  to  heaven.  The  stones  which  Joshua  set  up 
with  the  law  written  upon  them  were  still  there  5  there 
Moses  had  personally  hidden  the  sacred  vessels  of  the 
sanctuary ;  and  it  was  there  that  the  Messiah  should 
appear. 

Samaria  was  early  reached  by  Christianity  (Acts  viii : 
5).  It  became  a  Christian  see,  and  to  this  day  a  Greek 
bishop  takes  title  from  Sebaste  or  Sebastiyeh.  The  u  New 
City  ”  of  Shechem,  Neapolis  (now  Nabulus),  did  not  take 
kindly  to  the  new  religion  5  and  therefore,  particularly 
in  the  sixth  century  after  Christ,  it  came  into  frequent  con¬ 
flict  with  the  power  of  the  then  Christian  empire.  The 
Neapolitan  Samaritans  persecuted  the  Christians  and  de¬ 
stroyed  their  churches 5  in  529  they  put  the  bishop  to 
death 5  and  at  the  same  time  they  were  so  mad  as  to 
make  Julian,  one  of  their  leaders,  king  over  them.  The 
Emperor  Justinian  sent  an  army  against  them.  Many 
of  the  insurgents  were  slaughtered  5  many  fled  to  Persia  5 


SAMAKIA. 


373 


many  submitted  and  embraced  Christianity.  Their  syn¬ 
agogues  were  destroyed.  They  were  so  completely 
crushed  that  in  the  history  of  the  Crusades  they  are  not 
even  mentioned.  In  the  twelfth  century  they  are  said 
to  have  had  only  about  a  thousand  adherents  at  Nabulus 
and  a  few  at  Askalon,  Caesarea  and  Damascus.  More 
recently  they  are  known  to  have  had  small  communities 
at  Damascus  and  Cairo  5  but  these  have  disappeared. 
They  are  now  to  be  found  only  at  Nabulus,  and  there 
they  are  reduced  to  about  fifty  families,  who  occupy  a 
separate  district  of  the  town  in  which  their  forefathers 
once  ruled. 

But  the  line  of  their  priesthood  survives  5  their  worship 
is  maintained  5  the  law  of  Moses  is  read  among  them 
every  Sabbath  Day.  How  punctiliously  they  perform 
the  rites  of  their  religion  is  strikingly  illustrated  in  the 
account  given  of  their  celebration  of  the  Passover  by  the 
accomplished  writer  of  the  description  of  Nabulus  in 
Baedeker’s  u  Palestine  and  Syria.”  He  says :  u  The 
ascent  of  Mount  Gerizim  is  best  made  from  the  west 
corner  of  the  town,  and  through  the  valley  ascending 
thence  toward  the  south,  in  which  rises  the  copious  spring 
Has  el  Ain.  A  steep  climb  of  twenty-five  minutes  brings 
us  to  a  lofty  plain,  where  we  turn  to  the  left  and  soon 
reach  the  spot  where  the  Samaritans  pitch  tents  at  the 
feast  of  the  Passover.  Thence  to  the  summit  is  a  walk 
of  ten  minutes  more. 

u  On  the  Greek  Palm  Sunday  of  1869  the  writer  had 
an  opportunity  of  witnessing  this  interesting  festival. 
Seven  days  before  it  the  whole  of  the  Samaritan  commu¬ 
nity  had  repaired  hither  and  encamped  in  this  basin, 
where  everything  wore  a  gay,  holiday  aspect.  In  the 


374 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


tent  of  the  high  priest,  where  we  partook  of  coffee,  his 
wife  was  busy  in  preparing  the  ‘  bitter  herbs,’  which  she 
mixed  with  unleavened  dough.  Toward  sunset  we  pro¬ 
ceeded  to  the  scene  of  the  sacrifice,  a  little  nearer  the  top 
of  the  mount.  On  a  carefully-tended  fire  of  twigs  stood 
large  cauldrons  filled  with  water,  and  a  few  paces  higher 
up  there  was  another  fire  in  a  deep  pit,  also  carefully  sup¬ 
plied  with  fuel.  To  the  right  of  the  first  fire,  within  a 
space  enclosed  by  stones,  stood  twelve  men  in  white  sur¬ 
plices  and  turbans,  representing  the  twelve  tribes  of 
Israel,  with  their  faces  turned  toward  the  summit  of  the 
mount  and  chanting  passages  from  Scripture  and  prayers 
in  a  monotonous  tone.  On  a  block  of  stone  in  front  of 
them  stood  a  young  priest,  silently  joining  in  the  prayers 
of  the  twelve.  Around  the  fire  were  ranged  a  number 
of  white-robed  men  and  boys  holding  seven  white  lambs, 
and  behind  them  stood  a  throng  of  women  and  children. 

“  As  soon  as  the  last  rays  of  the  sun  had  ceased  to 
gild  the  Mediterranean,  the  high  priest  pronounced  a 
blessing  three  times,  and  in  a  loud  voice  repeated  the 
passage:  ‘And  the  whole  assembly  of  the  congregation 
of  Israel  shall  kill  it  in  the  evening  ’  (Exod.  xii :  6). 
Thereupon  the  slaughterers,  who  had  already  tested  the 
sharpness  of  their  knives  with  the  tips  of  their  tongues, 
instantly  cut  the  throats  of  the  lambs  while  loudly  recit¬ 
ing  a  form  of  prayer.  The  twelve  now  approached  the 
place  of  sacrifice,  reading  aloud  the  above  chapter  of 
Exodus.  When  they  came  to  the  verse  which  requires 
the  blood  to  be  struck  ( on  the  two  side-posts  and  on  the 
upper  door-post  of  the  houses  ’,  the  fathers  dipped  their 
forefingers  in  the  warm  blood  and  drew  a  line  with  it, 
from  the  forehead  to  the  tip  of  the  nose,  on  their  child- 


SAMARIA. 


375 


ren’s  faces.  Meanwhile  the  chanting  continued  until  a 
straw  platter  with  the  bitter  herbs  was  placed  before  the 
high  priest  who  handed  to  each  comer  his  portion.  The 
men  reverently  kissed  the  priest’s  hand  and  showed  the 
same  mark  of  respect  to  the  elders  of  the  community. 
They  then  embraced  and  kissed  each  other,  expressing 
mutual  wishes  for  the  success  of  the  festival.  As  the 
slaughterers  were  not  permitted  to  leave  their  posts  the 
priest  thrust  their  portions  into  their  mouths,  and  after 
the  men  and  boys  had  all  partaken  the  remainder  was 
distributed  among  the  women.  In  order  to  facilitate  the 
removal  of  the  wool  hot  water  was  poured  over  the  vic¬ 
tims,  and  as  soon  as  this  process  was  completed  each 
lamb  was  hung  by  the  hind-legs  on  a  piece  of  wood  rest¬ 
ing  on  the  shoulders  of  two  youths,  in  which  position  the 
entrails  were  removed.  The  animals  were  then  scrupu¬ 
lously  examined,  great  care  being  taken  lest  they  should 
be  polluted  by  the  too  near  approach  of  strangers. 

u  One  of  the  lambs  was  pronounced  by  the  high  priest 
to  be  affected  with  a  blemish,  whereupon  it  was  imme¬ 
diately  thrown  into  the  fire,  to  which  were  also  consigned 
the  wool,  the  entrails  and  the  right  forelegs  of  the  other 
victims.  The  lambs  were  now  rubbed  with  salt,  hung  on 
long  poles  and  carried  to  the  pit  containing  the  second 
fire.  At  a  certain  passage  in  the  prayers  they  were  sud¬ 
denly  thrown  in,  bundles  of  twigs  were  then  speedily 
placed  over  the  mouth  of  the  pit,  and  the  opening  closed 
with  pieces  of  turf. 

u  The  twelve  surpliced  men  now  returned  to  their  en¬ 
closure  and  read  on  unremittingly  till  midnight.  The  pit 
was  then  opened,  and  the  roasted  lambs  were  taken  out 
and  carried  in  new  straw  baskets  to  the  enclosure,  where 


376 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


they  were  eaten  in  haste  by  the  men  in  a  crouching  atti¬ 
tude  and  with  staves  in  their  left  hands.  The  white- 
robed  men  in  profound  silence  thus  eating  the  Passover 
presented  a  peculiarly  solemn  and  impressive  scene.  At 
length  the  hour  arrived  for  the  morning  prayer  of  four 
hours*  duration,  whereupon  we  quitted  the  place.** 

In  order  to  complete  our  survey  of  this  most  interest¬ 
ing  district,  we  may  here  very  greatly  condense  the  vivid 
description  of  Nab  ulus  given  by  Miss  Rogers  in  u  Pictur¬ 
esque  Palestine  **  and  Dr.  Geikie’s  equally  vivid  account 
of  Ebal  and  Gerizim. 

With  Miss  Rogers  for  our  guide  we  take  the  road  from 
Jacob’s  Well  in  a  northwesterly  direction,  skirting  the 
base  of  Gerizim.  u  From  Jacob’s  Well  the  road  takes  a 
northwesterly  direction,  skirting  the  base  of  Gerizim. 
On  the  right  is  the  pasture-land  of  Jacob,  yielding  abun¬ 
dant  harvests  of  wheat,  barley,  beans,  lentils,  sesamum, 
cotton  and  tobacco,  and  a  wealth  of  wild  flowers  on  every 
uncultivated  patch  of  ground.  A  spur  of  Gerizim  runs 
northward  as  if  to  meet  a  corresponding  but  less  devel¬ 
oped  spur  advancing  southward  from  Ebal,  the  twin 
mountain  opposite  j  the  point  of  their  nearest  approach 
is  the  true  entrance  to  the  Valley  of  Shechem.  As  we 
follow  the  path  around  the  northern  extremity  of  Geri- 
zim,  the  whole  length  of  the  valley  comes  suddenly  into 
sight,  with  its  terraced  hillsides,  its  running  streams  and 
olive  groves  and  orchards,  above  which  the  mosques  and 
minarets  and  white  house-tops  of  Nabulus  appear,  rather 
more  than  half  a  mile  distant. 

“  We  pass  the  spring  of  Defneh  (Daphne)  and  then 
the  new  barracks,  to  build  which  many  of  the  stones  of 
the  ruins  around  Jacob’s  Well  were  carried  away.  Here 


SAMARIA. 


877 


the  valley  seems  to  widen  again,  for  the  steep  slope  of 
Gerizim  is  broken  by  a  deep  wady  which  forms  a  vast 
natural  amphitheatre.  Immediately  opposite  there  is  a 
corresponding  ravine  reaching  almost  to  the  summit  of 
Ebal.  It  has  been  conjectured  by  several  writers  that  it 
was  here  that  Joshua,  after  having  taken  possession  of 
the  Promised  Land,  assembled  the  tribes  of  Israel  5  and 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  more  appropriate  spot  for 
the  celebration  of  the  solemn  ceremonies  described  in 
Deuteronomy  xxvii  and  Joshua  viii :  30-35.  We  cross 
and  recross  winding  streams  and  artificial  watercourses  in 
gardens  and  cultivated  fields,  and  pass  through  picturesque 
olive-groves  where  the  waysides  are  in  many  places 
brightened  with  wild  flowers  and  patches  of  self-sown 
barley.  In  a  few  minutes  we  enter  the  eastern  gate  of 
Nabulus. 

u  The  town,  which  is  almost  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
long,  is  built  in  the  narrowest  part  of  the  valley  where 
it  is  only  one  hundred  yards  wide.  It  is  said  that  there 
are  eight  springs  of  water  in  and  about  Nabulus,  each 
having  its  special  name.  The  water  is  conveyed  to 
mosques,  public  buildings  and  private  houses.  Many  of 
the  streets  have  channels  of  clear  water  running  through 
them.  After  being  thus  utilized,  the  streams  on  the 
western  side  of  the  city  are  allowed  to  unite  and  form  a 
stream  which  turns  several  mills  and  flows  toward  the 
Mediterranean  5  those  on  the  eastern  side  irrigate  the 
gardens,  and  then  with  a  rather  abrupt  fall  flow  toward 
the  Jordan.  There  are  no  very  ancient  buildings  in 
Nabulus,  and  scarcely  anything  remains  to  remind  us  of 
the  ‘New  City  ?  of  Flavius  but  the  mutilated  vestige  of 
its  name.  The  Crusaders,  however,  have  left  several 


878 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


memorials  of  their  influence  here.  We  at  once  recog¬ 
nize  their  work  in  the  fa9ade  of  the  principal  mosque, 
which  was  originally  a  church  dedicated  to  St.  John.  It 
is  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  city,  and  is  called  Jamia  el 
Kebir ,  the  Great  Mosque. 

u  From  this  point  we  enter  the  bazaars,  which  are 
better  built  and  kept  in  better  order  than  those  of  Jeru¬ 
salem.  There  are  small  arcades  devoted  to  the  sale  of 
tobacco  5  others  are  filled  with  the  odors  of  lemons, 
oranges,  citrons  and  shaddocks.  The  long  narrow  bazaar 
where  dried  fruits,  olives,  rice,  cheese  and  butter  are 
sold,  leads  to  another  Christian  church  of  the  twelfth 
century,  now  converted  into  a  mosque  called  Jamia  el 
Nisr ,  the  Mosque  of  the  Eagle.  Making  a  detour  through 
a  street  almost  blocked  up  with  camels,  we  pass  into  the 
principal  bazaar,  the  finest  arcade  in  Palestine.  Here 
the  European  goods  are  displayed,  such  as  Manchester 
cottons,  Sheffield  cutlery,  Bohemian  glasses  for  narghilehs, 
and  trinkets  of  all  kinds  from  Marseilles.  But  the 
brightest  shops  are  those  in  which  Damascus  and  Aleppo 
silks,  embroidered  jackets  and  crimson  tarbushes  appear, 
with  stores  of  Turkish  pipes  and  amber  rosaries  from 
Stamboul,  and  glass  bracelets  from  Hebron.  An  open¬ 
ing  in  this  arcade  leads  into  the  khan  on  the  north  side 
of  the  city,  the  Khan  of  the  Merchants  (Khan  Tujjar ). 
It  consists  of  an  extensive  square  space  enclosed  by  a 
two-storied  range  of  buildings.  A  stone  stairway  leads 
to  the  terraced  roof,  from  whence  there  is  an  interesting 
view  in  every  direction.  The  chief  trade  of  Nabulus  is 
in  wool,  cotton,  olive  oil,  and  soap  of  excellent  quality, 
and  goat-skins  in  great  numbers  are  converted  into  khir- 
behs  for  carrying  water.  Sometimes  the  floor  of  this 


SAMAEIA.  379 

khan  may  be  seen  half  covered  with  the  inflated  skins 
laid  out  for  seasoning.  Returning  to  the  arcade,  we 
pursue  our  way  westward  through  narrow  bazaars,  where 
smiths,  carpenters,  weavers,  tailors  and  shoemakers  may 
be  seen  at  work ;  then  turning  southward  we  traverse 
tortuous  lanes  and  gloomy  streets,  arched  at  intervals 
and  built  over  in  many  places,  till  we  reach  a  passage 
which  leads  us  out  of  the  town  just  opposite  to  the  ter¬ 
raced  gardens  on  the  slopes  of  Gerizim,  where  flourish 
all  c  the  precious  fruits  brought  forth  by  the  sun 1  (Deut. 
xxxiii :  14).  Oranges,  lemons,  figs,  apricots,  pomegran¬ 
ates,  mulberries,  walnuts,  grapes  and  almonds  follow 
each  other  in  due  season  j  and  hedges  of  cactus  atford  the 
cooling  fruit  commonly  called  the  prickly  pear.  On  one 
of  these  garden  terraces  Jotham  perhaps  stood  when  he 
cried,  ( Hearken  unto  me,  ye  men  of  Shechem/  and 
spoke  his  parable  of  the  fruit-trees  and  of  the  bramble. 
From  a  certain  point  in  these  gardens,  turning  toward 
the  northwest  we  see  the  outline  of  the  western  heights 
of  Ebal  and  in  the  foreground  the  tall  square  tower — 
remarkably  like  the  White  Tower  of  Ramleh — which 
adjoins  the  Mosque  El  Khadra ,  the  Green  Mosque, 
another  appropriated  church  of  the  Crusaders.  In  the 
front  of  this  tower  a  slab  is  fixed  on  which  there  is  a 
r  Samaritan  inscription.  The  Samaritans  state  that  they 
once  had  a  synagogue  on  this  spot,  which  is  popularly 
known  as  the  Mukum  Him  Yakub ,  that  is  c  the  Place  of 
the  Mourning  of  Jacob/  for  according  to  local  tradition 
it  was  here  that  Jacob  stood  when  the  coat  of  his  beloved 
son  Joseph  was  brought  to  him,  and  where,  believing 
him  to  be  dead,  6  he  mourned  for  him  many  days.’  But 
the  chief  interest  of  Nabulus  is  centered  in  a  little  group 


380 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


of  irregularly  built  bouses  clustered  closely  together  in 
the  southwest  quarter,  the  most  crowded  part  of  the  city. 

u  Here  we  find  the  last  remnant  of  the  once  powerful 
Samaritan  community.  In  1874  they  numbered  one 
hundred  and  thirty-five  individuals,  of  whom  fifty-six 
were  married,  ten  were  widows  advanced  in  years,  forty- 
nine  were  unmarried  men  and  young  boys,  and  twenty 
were  young  girls,  many  of  whom  were  already  promised 
in  marriage.  Since  this  date  the  numbers  have  decreased. 
Several  marriages  have  however  taken  place.  Their 
only  synagogue  is  a  small  unadorned  building,  the  ap¬ 
proach  to  which  is  a  crooked,  uncovered,  steep  stone 
stairway  leading  to  an  open  court,  where  a  lemon  tree 
grows  near  to  an  arched  doorway,  through  which  no  one 
is  allowed  to  enter  until  he  has  L  put  off  his  shoes. ?  The 
nave  is  lighted  by  a  circular  aperture  in  the  vaulted  roof, 
as  is  also  the  northeast  transept  through  which  we  enter. 
On  the  southeast  side,  which  is  in  the  direction  of  the 
L  Holv  Place  ’  on  Gerizim,  there  is  a  veiled  recess  to  which 
the  priests  alone  have  access.  The  veil  which  is  com¬ 
monly  used  consists  of  a  large  square  curtain  of  white 
damask  linen,  ornamented  very  skillfully  with  applique 
work,  apparently  of  the  sixteenth  century  though  the 
Samaritans  regard  it  as  much  older  $  pieces  of  red,  pur¬ 
ple  and  green  linen  cut  into  various  forms  are  sewn  on 
it  so  as  to  form  a  complete  and  harmonious  design. 

u  Within  the  veil  are  preserved  with  jealous  care, 
among  other  literary  treasures,  three  very  ancient  copies 
of  the  Samaritan  Pentateuch  5  one  of  which  is  said  to 
have  been  written  by  Abishua  the  great-grandson  of 
Aaron.  This  celebrated  roll  of  the  law,  which  is  prob¬ 
ably  of  the  third  century  of  our  era,  is  preserved  in  a 


SAMARIA. 


381 


cylindrical  silver-gilt  case,  opening  as  a  triptych  does  on 
two  sets  of  hinges.  The  outside  of  the  case  is  embossed 
and  in  some  parts  engraved.  On  one  of  the  divisions 
there  is  a  representation  of  the  Tabernacle  of  the  Wil¬ 
derness  with  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  altars,  candle¬ 
sticks,  trumpets  and  various  sacrificial  implements,  with 
explanatory  inscriptions.  The  two  other  divisions  of  the 
cylinder  are  ornamented  with  conventional  designs  in 
repousse  work.  This  case  is  said  by  experts  to  be  Vene¬ 
tian  work  of  the  fourteenth  or  fifteenth  century.  The 
Samaritans  regard  it  as  much  older.  The  roll  itself  is 
composed  of  prepared  goat-skins  twenty-five  inches  high 
and  about  fifteen  feet  wide  $  they  are  neatly  joined 
together,  but  in  many  places  have  been  torn  and  rather 
clumsily  repaired  with  parchment  of  various  qualities. 
This  much-prized  volume  is  exhibited  to  the  congrega¬ 
tion  once  a  year.  The  ceremony  takes  place  on  their 
only  fast  day,  the  Day  of  Atonement,  and  then  the  people, 
young  and  old,  are  permitted  to  kiss  that  part  of  the  roll 
on  which  the  Aaronic  blessings  are  inscribed  5  the  con¬ 
sequence  is  that  the  blessings  are  by  degrees  disappear¬ 
ing.  A  crimson  satin  cover,  on  which  Samaritan  inscrip¬ 
tions  are  embroidered  in  gold  thread,  envelopes  the 
treasure.” 

Under  the  guidance  of  Dr.  Geikie  we  make  the 
ascent  of  Mount  Gerizim.  u  The  ascent  of  Gerizim 
is  made  on  horseback,  but  a  good  part  of  the  way  is 
so  steep  that  it  seems  wonderful  that  the  beasts  can  keep 
their  footing  among  the  loose  stones.  Passing  up  behind 
the  town  you  come  very  soon  to  a  magnificent  fountain, 
the  water  of  which  is  led  eastward  by  an  open  water¬ 
course.  At  this  copious  source  some  women  are  draw- 


382 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


ing  for  their  households,  others  are  washing  their  un¬ 
savory  linen  5  men  are  enjoying  their  ablutions,  and  boys 
are  playing  in  the  water.  Gardens  climb  the  hill  on  the 
left  of  the  track,  beautiful  with  every  fruit  tree  that  grows 
in  Palestine  ;  at  some  places  grain  is  springing  up  vigor¬ 
ously  on  terraces  raised  upon  slopes  so  steep  that  it  seems 
impossible  for  their  walls  to  stand.  Vines,  olives  and 
figs  fill  stray  nooks  j  but  the  part  of  the  hill  up  which 
our  horses  have  to  toil  is  too  stony  for  cultivation.  At 
several  places  there  are  bold  cliffs  which  seem  to  over¬ 
hang  the  town,  several  of  them  forming  natural  pulpits, 
from  any  one  of  which  Jotham  may  have  delivered  his 
famous  parable,  the  earliest  of  which  we  know  (Judg. 
ix  :  7). 

u  After  a  weary  climb  we  reached  the  top  of  the  moun¬ 
tain,  but  we  have  a  long  way  to  ride  before  we  arrive  at 
the  farther  end.  The  narrow  plateau, — now  sloping  up¬ 
ward,  now  undulating,  now  consisting  of  rough  shelves 
of  rock, — is  partly  ploughed  for  grain,  partly  sown  ;  stone 
walls  separated  some  of  the  patches,  and  a  terraced  road 
at  one  point  stretched  for  a  good  distance.  The  spot 
where  the  Samaritans  still  sacrifice  seven  Paschal  lambs 
is  very  near  the  east  end  of  the  ridge,  close  to  the  true  peak 
of  Gerizim.  A  pit  or  tannur  in  which  the  lambs  are 
roasted  is  all  that  appears  of  last  year’s  solemnity.  Be¬ 
yond  this  to  the  east  the  highest  part  of  the  mountain  is 
crowned  with  the  ruins  of  a  castle  and  a  church.  The 
church  has  been  quite  leveled  with  the  ground,  but  some 
courses  of  the  castle  walls  are  still  standing. 

u  A  rock  is  pointed  out — merely  a  sloping  shelf  of  lime¬ 
stone — on  which  Joshua  is  said  to  have  reared  the  Taber¬ 
nacle  5  and  a  little  rock-sunk  trench  is  dignified  as  the 


SAMAKIA. 


883 


scene  of  Abraham’s  sacrifice.  Joshua  as  we  know,  wrote 
the  whole  law  on  stones  which  he  set  up  on  Ebal  (Deut. 
xxvii :  2-8)  ;  coating  them  with  the  almost  imperishable 
cement  of  the  country,  and  writing  on  it,  either  with 
paint  or  with  an  iron  style  or  pen  while  it  was  soft. 
Such  a  mode  of  preserving  writing  was  common  in  an¬ 
tiquity,  and  in  so  dry  a  climate  would  last  almost  forever. 
The  Samaritans  believe  that  1  the  twelve  stones  ’  thus 
inscribed  are  still  in  existence  on  the  top  of  Mount  Geri- 
zim,  but  Sir  Charles  Wilson  and  Major  Anderson  exca¬ 
vated  the  large  masses  of  rudely  hewn  stone  supposed  to 
be  those  of  Joshua,  and  found  them  to  be  little  better 
than  mere  natural  slabs. 

u  The  view  from  the  top  of  Mount  Gerizim  is  of  amaz¬ 
ing  extent  and  interest — the  bare  and  desolate  slopes  of 
Ebal,  watered  only  by  rain  from  cisterns  on  the  successive 
terraces  that  have  been  raised  with  much  labor  on  its 
sides  ;  the  gardens  on  the  lower  terraces  5  the  corn  rising 
on  many  of  those  higher  up,  but  the  great  bare  mass  of 
the  hill  swelling  to  the  sky  above ;  the  valley  below  with 
its  gardens  and  orchards,  the  mosque  at  Joseph’s  Tomb, 
the  Well  of  Samaria,  and  just  outside  on  the  plain  the 
village  of  Sychar — a  poor  hamlet  on  the  rocky  slope  of 
Ebal,  which  swells  up  in  slow  waves  behind  it 5  the  glo¬ 
rious  Plain  of  Makhnah — c  the  Encampment  ’ — with  its 
fields  of  rich  brown  tilth  5  stray  villages  on  its  low  un¬ 
dulations  j  clumps  of  olives  behind  them  ;  and  on  the  other 
side,  to  the  east,  a  long  succession  of  round-topped  hills, 
cultivated  in  terraces  wherever  there  is  a  shelf  for  soil. 
On  the  west  we  could  see  Joppa,  thirty-six  miles  off,  at 
the  sea ;  to  the  east,  the  chasm  of  the  Jordan,  eighteen 
miles  distant  j  while  at  our  feet,  as  if  to  bring  us  back 


384 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


from  poetry  to  prose,  the  poles  of  the  telegraph  from 
Joppa  stood  up  in  their  barrenness  along  the  valley,  run¬ 
ning  past  Jacob’s  Well  and  then  south  to  Jerusalem  and 
Egypt  and  east  to  Gilead. 

u  The  view  from  Ebal  however  is  even  finer.  On  the 
north  you  see  Safed,  i  the  city  set  on  a  hill  ’  (Matt,  v  : 
14),  and  the  snowy  head  of  Mount  Herrnon,  with  i  Thirza/ 
once  the  capital  of  the  northern  kingdom  famed  for  its 
beauty  (Cant,  vi :  4  j  1  Kings  :  17  ;  xv  :  21,  33  ;  xvi :  8), 
shining  out  on  a  very  steep  hill  a  little  way  beyond  the 
plain ;  on  the  west,  Joppa  and  Ramleh,  and  the  sea  j  on 
the  south,  the  hills  over  Bethel  j  and  on  the  east,  the 
great  plain  of  the  Hauran,  beyond  the  Jordan.  A  striking 
ruin  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain  gives  romance  even 
to  the  Hill  of  Curses.  The  enclosure  is  over  ninety  feet 
square,  and  the  walls  are  no  less  than  twenty  feet  thick, 
strongly  built  of  selected  unhewn  stones  without  mortar, 
with  the  remains  of  chambers  ten  feet  square  inside. 
Within  the  building  however  is  a  cistern,  and  round  it 
are  the  heaps  of  stones  and  ruins.  Excavation  has  thrown 
no  light  on  the  history  of  the  structure.  It  is  too  small 
for  a  church,  for  there  is  only  a  space  fifty  feet  square 
inside  the  amazing  walls,  and  there  is  no  trace  of  any 
plaster  or  cement,  such  as  is  associated  with  the  incident 
of  the  great  stones  which  Joshua  set  up,  or  with  any 
altar  that  he  may  have  raised  on  the  mountain.  Strange 
to  say  some  peasant  had  carried  his  plough  up  to  the  top 
of  the  mountain  and  had  raised  a  fine  crop  of  lentils, 
perhaps  in  the  hope  that  at  such  a  height  they  might 
escape  the  greedy  eyes  of  the  Turkish  officials.” 

It  is  well  worth  while  to  have  given  a  special  study  to 
this  most  interesting  region,  because  it  is  one  of  the  few 


SAMAEIA. 


385 


places  in  the  Holy  Land  in  which  we  may  be  quite  sure 
that  we  are  standing  on  the  very  ground  which  was  once 
trod  by  the  Saviour’s  feet,  that  we  are  gazing  on  the 
scenes  on  which  he  looked,  and  that  we  are  recollecting 
some  of  the  ten  thousand  things  of  which  he  must  have 
thought.  Jesus  did  not  only  pass  through  Samaria ;  he 
remained  for  two  days  among  the  simple,  kindly,  hospit¬ 
able  folk  who  heard  him  so  gladly  (John  iv  :  40,  43) ; 
and  when  he  left  Samaria  he  contrasted  the  honor  he 
had  there  received  with  the  indifference  of  his  own  coun¬ 
trymen  (John  iv  :  44). 

Nabulus  too  is  well  worthy  of  study,  not  only  on  ac¬ 
count  of  its  historical  interest  and  the  strange  people  of 
whom  the  last  remnant  seems  to  be  slowly  dying  out 
there,  but  because,  in  the  opinion  of  many  competent 
persons,  and  certainly  in  the  opinion  of  the  present  writer, 
Nabulus  is  the  Sychar  of  the  Gospel.  Unless  the  village 
of  Asker  formerly  stood  much  nearer  to  Jacob’s  Well 
than  it  does  now,  it  seems  to  be  incredible  that  the  woman 
who  went  to  that  well  to  draw  water  should  needlessly 
have  gone  so  far  for  so  homely  a  purpose.  True  the 
modern  Nabulus  is  more  distant  from  the  well  than  Asker, 
but  at  that  time  it  is  probable  that  the  town  stretched 
much  further  down  into  the  valley  j  and  even  now  the 
barracks  of  Nabulus  are  considerably  nearer  to  the  well 
than  is  Asker.  In  short  the  conjecture  seems  to  be  some¬ 
thing  more  than  reasonable  that  Sychar  may  have  been 
the  name  given  to  the  outlying  suburbs  of  the  main  city, 
and  that  poor  little  Asker  is  only  a  remnant  of  extensive 
suburbs  which  once  stretched  far  down  into  the  valley 
and  along  the  base-lines  of  the  two  lofty  hills.  Certainly 

the  language  of  the  Gospel  implies  that  Sychar  was  a 

25 


386 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


populous  town  and  not  merely  a  village ;  and  we  have 
no  knowledge  of  any  other  such  town  near  Jacob’s  Well 
except  Shechem  the  modern  Nabulus.  It  therefore  seems 
to  be  almost  certain  that  it  was  here  that  Jesus  tarried 
preaching  to  Samaritans  for  those  two  memorable  days. 

The  Christian  tradition  of  the  site  of  Jacob’s  Well  dates 
back  to  the  fourth  century.  Early  in  the  fifth  century  a 
church  had  been  erected  there,  but  by  the  time  of  the 
Crusaders  it  had  disappeared.  The  ruins  of  this  church, 
with  the  stones  cast  into  the  well  by  travellers  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  hearing  the  splash  of  the  water  far  beneath  the 
opening,  have  probably  much  more  than  half  filled  up  the 
well.  In  1697  it  is  recorded  to  have  been  105  feet  deep 
and  to  have  had  fifteen  feet  of  water.  In  1838  it  still  had 
a  depth  of  105  feet  but  was  found  to  be  dry.  In  the  fol¬ 
lowing  year,  with  the  same  depth,  it  held  ten  to  twelve 
feet  of  water.  In  1840  the  Rev.  Andrew  Bonar,  who 
accidentally  dropped  his  Bible  into  the  well,  heard  the 
book  u  plunging  into  the  water  far  below.”  Strangely 
enough  the  book  was  recovered  three  years  later ;  and 
then,  as  also  in  1866  and  in  1877,  the  depth  of  the  well 
was  found  to  be  only  seventy-five  feet.  By  what  means 
thirty  feet  of  depth  was  filled  up  in  the  four  years  between 
1839  and  1843  is  not  known. 

In  1866  Captain  Anderson  of  the  Royal  Engineers  made 
a  descent  of  the  well  with  some  danger,  and  even  suffer¬ 
ing,  for  he  fainted  while  descending  and  found  himself 
lying  at  the  bottom  with  the  opening  above  him  looking 
like  a  star.  Nevertheless  he  succeeded  in  making  the 
observations  which  were  the  object  of  his  difficult  investi¬ 
gation.  He  states  that  the  mouth  of  the  well  is  u  just 
wide  enough  to  allow  the  body  of  a  man  to  pass  through 


SAMARIA. 


387 


with  his  arms  uplifted.  The  narrow  neck,  which  is 
about  four  feet  long  resembling  the  neck  of  a  bottle, 
opens  out  into  the  well  itself  which  is  cylindrical,  and 
about  seven  feet  six  inches  in  diameter.  The  mouth  of 
the  upper  part  of  the  well  is  built  of  masonry,  and  the 
well  appears  to  have  been  sunk  through  a  mixture  of 
alluvial  soil  and  limestone  fragments  till  a  compact  bed 
of  limestone  was  reached,  having  horizontal  strata  which 
could  be  easily  worked.  The  interior  of  the  well  presents 
the  appearance  of  being  lined  with  rough  masonry.” 
The  reason  why  the  patriarch  should  have  undertaken 
so  great  and  difficult  a  work  as  the  sinking  of  this  well, 
when  there  were  magnificent  springs  gushing  from  the 
sides  and  roots  of  Mount  Gerizim,  must  have  been  the 
jealousy  with  which  the  right  of  property  in  springs  and 
wells  is  guarded  in  the  East.  At  any  moment  his  flocks 
and  herds  might  have  been  deprived  of  water  by  the 
owners  of  the  neighboring  springs,  who  would  not  will¬ 
ingly  see  a  customary  use  of  their  property  growing 
into  a  sort  of  right  in  the  user.  To  avoid  all  such  diffi¬ 
culties  and  the  cause  which  might  lead  to  them,  it 
was  doubtless  prudent  in  Jacob  to  dig  a  cistern  on  the 
parcel  of  ground  which  he  had  acquired  by  purchase, 
and  from  which  at  the  depth  it  originally  had  he  could 
expect  to  find  a  never-failing  supply  of  water  for  his 
flocks  and  herds. 

Above  and  around  the  well  as  it  is  now  there  is  nothing 
of  importance  except  the  stones  of  the  chapel  which  was 
built  there  in  the  fifth  century.  The  mouth  of  the  well 
is  covered  with  great  stones  with  an  orifice  large  enough 
for  the  leathern  bottles  of  the  peasants  to  pass  through  it. 
From  the  well  the  ground  slopes  up  to  the  fragments  of 


888 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


the  broken  wall,  and  the  visitor  must  let  himself  down  as 
best  he  can  to  reach  the  orifice. 

It  was  beside  this  ancient  cistern  that  our  Saviour, 
weary  with  his  long  march,  sat  down  to  rest.  It  was 
high  noon ;  it  could  not  have  been  morning  or  evening, 
for  then  the  well  would  have  been  surrounded  with  girls 
and  women  coming  to  draw  water  for  their  families.  At 
that  unusual  hour  came  one  woman  alone,  perhaps  be¬ 
cause  other  women,  had  they  been  there,  would  have 
cruelly  taunted  her  with  her  disreputable  life.  The 
stranger  knew  her  though  she  did  not  know  him,  and 
asked  her  to  give  him  water  to  drink.  The  woman 
was  astonished,  and  well  she  might  be  j  for  the  man  was 
a  Jew,  and  the  Jews  had  no  dealings  with  the  Samaritans. 
Besides,  it  was  contrary  to  Eastern  etiquette  for  a  rabbi 
to  address  a  woman  not  of  his  own  family.  The  Talmud 
goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  no  rabbi  u  is  to  speak  with  a 
woman  in  a  public  place,  or  to  take  any  notice  of  her, 
even  if  she  be  his  wife.”  Perhaps  this  poor  woman  was 
not  accustomed  to  be  courteously  addressed  either  by 
men  or  by  women.  At  all  events  she  answered  him  with 
evident  surprise.  u  How  is  it  that  thou,  being  a  Jew,” 
she  said,  u  askest  drink  of  me,  which  am  a  woman  of 
Samaria  Vf  (John  iv  :  9.) 

Into  the  wonderful  discourse  which  followed  we  may  not 
enter  in  this  work.  That  is  the  loftier  theme  of  preachers 
and  commentators  ;  but  before  it  was  closed  the  woman 
had  found  reason  to  cry  out,  u  Sir,  I  perceive  that  thou 
art  a  prophet !”  And  before  the  two  days  of  his  sojourn 
in  that  town  among  the  hated  Samaritans  were  over,  both 
she  and  they  had  learned  to  u  know  that  this  is  indeed 
the  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world”  (John  iv :  42). 


1 


. 


. 

. 


. 


- 

I 


/ 


_ 


SAMARIA. 


389 


After  those  two  days  of  refreshment,  thinking  of  the 
fields  which  He  saw  whitening  for  the  harvest  of  the 
gospel,  of  the  living  water  which  unknown  to  them  He 
had  been  showering  on  their  souls,  and  then  again  of  the 
few  laborers  who  were  willing  to  reap  that  harvest  of 
redeemed  souls,  Jesus  went  on  his  way  from  the  fair  vale 
of  Shechem,  past  Samaria, — then  in  all  the  pride  of  its 
Herodian  magnificence,  now  a  mere  village  with  many 
ruins. 

On  a  terrace  which  ran  around  the  summit  of  the  hill 
of  Samaria  was  then  a  stately  colonnade  1000  yards  in 
length,  with  pillars  which,  including  base  and  capital, 
must  have  been  twenty  or  twenty-five  feet  high,  now  all 
broken  and  many  of  them  buried  in  the  ground.  On 
the  western  end,  on  an  artificial  terrace  which  is  now 
used  as  a  threshing-floor,  then  stood  the  temple  which 
the  obsequious  Herod  reared  to  Augustus.  Five  centuries 
later  a  magnificent  basilica  was  built  on  that  same  mount¬ 
ain  to  the  honor  of  the  Traveller  who  then  saw  Herod’s 
temple.  When  that  noble  Christian  edifice  had  fallen, 
the  Crusaders  of  the  twelfth  century  raised  on  the  same 
spot  another  church  bearing  the  name  of  John  the  Bap¬ 
tist,  who  as  early  as  the  fourth  century  was  thought  to 
have  been  buried  here.  That  church  of  St.  John  is  also 
now  a  ruin  with  its  apse  rising  above  the  steep  brink  of 
the  hill  of  Sebastiyeh.  Its  broken  walls  enclose  a  court 
in  the  midst  of  which,  beneath  a  stone  slab  in  a  deep- 
sunk  crypt,  are  said  to  have  been  laid  the  bodies  of  the 
Baptist,  the  faithful  Obadiah  (1  Kings  xviii :  3-16),  and 
the  Prophet  Elisha.  On  the  north  of  the  church  are  the 
ruins  of  another  great  building  with  massive  square 
towers,  probably  remains  of  the  palace  of  a  bishop  during 


390 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


the  Crusades,  or  of  a  commandery  of  the  Knights  of 
St.  John.  Except  perhaps  the  pillars  of  the  colonnade 
which  are  yet  standing,  no  work  of  man’s  hand  that  is 
now  seen  at  Sebastiyeh  could  be  seen  from  the  road  when 
Jesus  passed  on  his  way  to  Galilee. 

Beyond  Samaria  He  went  through  a  country  which 
was  extremely  fertile  and  populous,  but  not  famous  in 
history,  until  He  came  to  the  plain  of  Dothan,  where  a 
pit  is  still  shown  in  which  Joseph  is  said  to  have  been 
put  by  his  conspiring  brethren.  All  around  that  spot 
the  flocks  and  herds  of  Jacob  roamed  and  grazed,  and 
over  the  same  road  which  we  are  tracing  came  the  Midi- 
anitish  merchantmen  from  beyond  Jordan  bearing  their 
spicery  to  Egypt.  Now  u  the  wild  gazelle  ”  finds  pas¬ 
ture  there.  Four  miles  beyond  that  plain,  on  the  further 
side  of  the  hills  which  swell  between  it  and  the  Plain  of 
Esdraelon,  was  En  Gannim.  Passing  through  the  city 
of  fresh  springs  and  fertile  gardens,  and  across  the  plain 
of  many  battles,  Jesus  and  his  little  company  would  soon 
arrive  at  Nazareth,  and  thence  the  way  was  short  to  little 
Cana. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE - TYRE  AND  SIDON. 

In  following  the  steps  of  our  Saviour  to  this  early  part 
of  his  ministry, — indeed  only  to  its  opening, — we  have 
already  gone  over  most  of  the  Holy  Land. 

Landing  at  Joppa,  we  have  surveyed  both  the  ancient 
and  the  modern  road  to  Jerusalem  and  the  famous  scenes 
of  sacred  history  near  which  they  pass.  We  have  vis¬ 
ited  Bethlehem.  We  have  traced  the  flight  into  Egypt 
by  Hebron  and  Beersheba,  and  the  return  through  the 
Plain  of  Philistia.  On  their  way  to  the  Passover  at  Je¬ 
rusalem  we  have  journeyed  with  the  Holy  Family  from 
the  Jordan  to  Jericho  and  Jerusalem.  We  have  sought 
the  solitary  Wilderness  of  Judea  where  the  Baptist  med¬ 
itated  and  the  Saviour  overcame  the  tempter.  We  have 
at  last  taken  the  highway  which  leads  from  Jerusalem  to 
the  border  of  Samaria.  Thus  we  have  left  no  part  of 
Judea  unnoticed  which  has  any  direct  connection  with  the 
Life  of  Christ. 

In  like  manner  we  have  traced  one  part  of  the  journey 
of  the  Holy  Family  from  Egypt  through  the  maritime 
Plain  of  Sharon,  and  in  the  last  chapter  we  have  surveyed 
the  only  remaining  part  of  the  province  of  Samaria  which 
is  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament. 

In  following  the  probable  path  taken  to  Jerusalem  at 

the  first  Passover  of  the  Child  Jesus  we  have  gone  down 

(391) 


392 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


the  Ghor  of  the  Jordan,  noting  as  we  went  that  part  of 
the  Holy  Land  which  lies  beyond  the  sacred  river.  Thus 
we  have  at  least  glanced  at  the  Province  of  Perea  and 
the  district  of  Becapolis . 

In  Galilee  we  have  viewed  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon ;  we 
have  visited  Nazareth  and  Cana  and  Capernaum ;  and  in 
going  round  the  Sea  of  Tiberias  we  have  seen  not  only 
its  Galilean  shore,  but  its  eastern  shore  in  the  Province 
of  Iturea. 

In  order  therefore  to  complete  our  survey  of  the 
Holy  Land  we  have  yet  to  take  a  rapid  view  of  the  rest 
of  Galilee  and  of  some  of  the  places  which  our  Saviour 
could  hardly  miss  when  He  went  into  u  all  the  cities  and 
villages  ”  of  that  province.  Beyond  the  borders  of  the 
Promised  Land  we  must  not  omit  to  see  u  the  coasts  of 
Tyre  and  Sidon  ”  and  u  the  towns  of  Csesarea  Philippi,” 
into  which  He  went  at  the  very  close  of  his  ministry. 
Then,  after  ascending  the  u  high  mountain  ”  of  his  trans¬ 
figuration,  we  may  descend  as  He  did  to  the  Holy  City 
and  the  unknown  place  whence  He  was  u  taken  up.” 

The  name  of  Galilee,  which  was  given  to  the  northern 
province  of  the  Holy  Land,  was  probably  applied  at  first 
to  the  circle  (Hebrew,  galil )  of  the  country  which  King 
Solomon  gave  with  its  twenty  towns  to  Hiram,  King  of 
Tyre,  in  recognition  or  recompense  of  the  large  supplies 
of  money  and  material  which  the  Tyrian  monarch  fur¬ 
nished  for  the  building  of  the  Temple.  When  he  came  to 
see  them,  Hiram  was  by  no  means  gratified  at  the  present 
he  had  received,  and  asked  King  Solomon,  u  What  cities 
are  these  which  thou  hast  given  me,  my  brother  ?  And  he 
called  them  the  land  of  Cabul  unto  this  day  ”  (1  Kings  ix  : 
13).  The  name  was  one  of  contemptuous  disgust.  One  of 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE — TYRE  AND  SIDON.  393 


the  towns  in  the  district  was  Cabul  (Josh,  xix  :  27)  j  and 
as  that  word  in  the  Phenician  language  signifies  dirty  or 
displeasing ,  the  disappointed  monarch  gave  the  name  of 
that  town  to  the  entire  district  which  had  been  ceded  to 
him.  Kabul  still  exists  under  the  same  name,  and  is 
situated  about  eight  or  nine  miles  east  of  Akka.  Natu¬ 
rally,  the  opprobrious  name  bestowed  by  King  Hiram 
would  not  be  used  by  the  Israelites  or  the  inhabitants  of 
the  district,  who  would  prefer  to  call  it  Galil ;  and  when 
the  tribes  of  Israel  were  carried  into  captivity  and  the 
Galileans  swarmed  into  the  desolate  and  empty  land,  the 
name  of  their  original  home  was  extended  to  the  whole 
of  Northern  Palestine.  By  way  of  further  distinction, 
Northern  Palestine  was  called  Galilee  of  the  Gentiles  (Isa. 
ix  :  1 ;  Matt,  iv  :  15),  and  with  good  reason,  since  the 
majority  of  the  Galileans  were  not  Israelites.  In  the  time 
of  the  Maccabees  it  seems  that  the  Israelites  in  Galilee 
were  few  and  feeble  in  comparison  with  the  Gentiles 
among  whom  they  lived  (1  Macc.  v  :  1,  2,  14,  15) ;  and 
Strabo  describes  the  population  as  consisting  in  his  time 
of  Syrians,  Phenicians  and  Arabs.  It  is  certain  how¬ 
ever  that  in  the  time  of  Christ  the  Israelites  largely  out¬ 
numbered  the  Gentiles  of  any  single  race,  and  it  is  prob¬ 
able  that  they  had  many  proselytes  to  their  religion 
among  their  heathen  neighbors. 

Galilee  was  one  of  the  most  lovely  and  delightful  por¬ 
tions  of  Palestine.  Josephus  declares  that  it  was  densely 
populated  by  a  hardy  and  warlike  people,  and  that  its 
rich  and  fertile  soil  responded  so  readily  and  generously 
to  the  labor  of  the  husbandman  as  to  attract  all  who 
cared  to  engage  in  agriculture.  Every  acre  not  under 
tilth  or  pasturage  was  verdant  with  the  foliage  of  trees. 


394 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


The  cities  were  numerous,  and  many  of  the  villages  had 
so  large  a  population  as  15,000  souls.  A  considerable 
subtraction  might  be  made  from  what  Josephus  says  and 
yet  leave  Galilee  a  populous  and  prosperous  country.  Its 
hills  were  crowned  with  woods.  Its  upland  slopes  were 
the  rich  grazing-ground  of  cattle.  Its  valleys  teemed  with 
all  the  grains  and  fruits  and  flowers  that  a  prolific  soil  could 
yield  under  the  rays  of  a  Syrian  sun.  The  rabbis  never 
wearied  of  extolling  Galilee.  For  sixteen  miles  around 
Sepphoris,  its  capital,  they  said  that  the  land  of  Galilee 
literally  flowed  with  milk  and  honey,  and  they  maintained 
that  its  fruits  were  actually  sweeter  than  fruits  of  the 
same  species  in  any  other  place.  Tacitus  particularly 
praised  the  palms  which  grew  in  the  most  favored  dis¬ 
tricts.  Thus  Galilee  in  all  respects  fulfilled  the  promise 
of  Moses,  that  the  lot  of  Naphtali  should  be  u  full  with 
the  blessings  of  Jehovah  ”  (Deut.  xxxiii :  23)  ;  and  even  in 
our  own  day  Renan  describes  it  as  u  a  country  clothed  with 
verdure,  full  of  shade  and  pleasantness — the  true  country 
of  the  Canticles  and  of  the  Songs  of  the  Well-Beloved.’7 

The  products  of  Galilee  were  largely  but  by  no  means 
exclusively  agricultural.  The  wheat  fields  brought  forth 
u  some  an  hundred-fold,  some  sixty,  and  some  thirty.” 
Every  season  saw  the  presses  bursting  with  new  wine. 
The  product  of  the  olive  groves  was  so  abundant  that 
when  Jotopata  was  besieged  by  the  Romans  the  citizens 
were  able  to  defend  themselves  by  pouring  streams  of 
boiling  oil  on  their  assailants.  The  waters  of  the  Sea  of 
Galilee  teemed  with  fish,  for  which  there  was  a  ready 
market  even  so  far  south  as  at  Jerusalem.  In  the  town 
of  Magdala  there  are  said  to  have  been  no  less  than  three 
hundred  shops  for  the  sale  of  doves  from  the  rocks  and 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYEE  AND  SIDON.  895 


woods  around.  In  the  same  neighborhood  there  were 
plantations  of  indigo,  and  the  art  of  dyeing  was  prac¬ 
ticed  extensively  and  profitably.  In  the  central  district 
there  were  manufactories  of  pottery,  and  the  weaving  of 
linen  and  woollen  cloths  was  one  of  the  chief  industries 
of  the  whole  province.  In  short,  Galilee  was  the  manu¬ 
facturing  region  of  the  Holy  Land.  It  was  also  a  com¬ 
mercial  region.  It  found  a  market  for  its  products  in  the 
ports  of  Acre,  Tyre  and  Sidon,  and  along  its  highways 
the  costly  stuffs,  the  jewels,  the  spices  and  the  grain  from 
beyond  Jordan  were  carried  to  the  seaboard.  Such  was 
the  province  into  which  our  Saviour  went  preaching  the 
Gospel,  and  in  which  He  spent  by  far  the  longest  part 
of  his  ministry.  His  was  pre-eminently  a  religion  of 
life,  and  He  went  with  it  among  men  who  were  engaged 
in  all  forms  of  human  activity. 

In  our  Saviour’s  time  the  capital  city  of  Galilee  was 
Sepphoris,  also  called  Dioccesarea ,  the  modern  Sefuriyeh , 
which  is  perhaps  identical  with  the  more  ancient  Kitron 
(Judg.  i :  30).  According  to  tradition  Sepphoris  was  the 
home  of  Joachim  and  Anna,  the  parents  of  the  blessed 
Virgin.  It  was  at  Sepphoris,  we  are  told,  that  the 
mother  of  Jesus  spent  her  childhood  and  received  the 
angelic  annunciation.  The  tradition  is  late  but  not  in- 
r  credible.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  our  Saviour  should 
not  have  visited  Sepphoris,  since  it  was  only  about  five 
miles  from  Nazareth.  As  it  is  plainly  in  sight  of  the  hill 
which  rises  north  of  Nazareth,  He  must  at  least  have 
seen  it  hundreds  of  times,  and  whether  the  Cana  of  the 
Gospel  is  the  modern  Kefr  Kenna  or  Kanet-el- Jelil,  He 
must  have  been  very  near  to  Sepphoris  every  time  he 
went  to  the  place  of  his  first  miracle. 


396 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


From  the  midst  of  a  plain  surrounded  with  hills  a 
single  hill  rises  to  a  height  of  several  hundred  feet,  and 
on  its  southern  slope,  that  is  to  say,  on  the  side  toward 
Nazareth,  is  the  crescent-shaped  town  of  Sefuriyeh.  At 
that  time  it  had  been  restored  and  adorned  by  Herod  An- 
tipas,  and  was  the  greatest  city  of  Galilee,  outranking 
Tiberias  itself.  It  had  no  natural  supply  of  water,  the 
nearest  spring  being  over  a  mile  distant  in  the  plain  to 
the  south,  but  the  remains  of  an  aqueduct  and  a  huge 
reservoir  show  the  immense  labor  and  expense  at  which 
this  defect  was  remedied.  The  lines  of  the  reservoir 
have  been  traced  to  a  length  of  five  hundred  and  twenty 
feet,  Avith  a  varying  width  of  from  eight  to  twenty  feet  and 
a  depth  of  from  eight  to  fifteen  feet,  and  when  full  it  must 
have  held  more  than  1,000,000  cubic  feet  of  Avater.  After 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  the  great  Sanhedrin  was 
transferred  to  Sepphoris,  A\rhich  thus  for  a  time  became  the 
centre  of  JeAvish  nationality  and  religion.  In  consequence 
t  of  a  revolt  of  the  JeAvish  inhabitants,  it  was  sacked  by 
the  Homans  A.  D.  339.  Sepphoris  Avas  the  residence  of 
the  Bishop  of  Palestina  Secunda,  and  in  the  sixth  century 
a  basilica  was  erected  on  the  spot  where  the  Virgin  is 
said  to  have  received  the  angelic  salutation.  Still  later 
the  city  was  occupied  by  the  Crusaders,  and  many  a  gal¬ 
lant  Christian  army  has  assembled  in  the  plain  beloAV. 
On  the  summit  of  the  hill  they  built  the  fortress  which 
they  proudly  called  u  the  Castle  Beautiful/7  and  around 
that  hill  they  gathered  their  forces  for  the  fatal  battle  of 
Kurn  Hattin,  in  which  the  Christians  were  completely 
routed  by  Saladin.  The  principal  apse,  and  the  apse  of 
the  north  aisle  of  the  basilica  of  Sepphoris,  remain  to  mark 
the  spot  where  Mary  dwelt,  and  the  ruins  of  the  castle 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYKE  AND  SIDON.  397 


show  that  it  was  strong  as  well  as  beautiful.  If  the  Cru¬ 
saders  had  fought  there,  where  they  would  have  had  an 
undoubted  advantage  of  position,  Guy  de  Lusignan  and 
not  the  Saracen  might  have  been  master  of  Palestine. 

The  history  of  the  fatal  battle  of  Hattin,  as  it  is  called, 
is  admirably  given  by  Dr.  Robinson.  With  considerable 
abbreviation  from  his  narrative  the  story  runs  as  follows  : 

It  was  on  the  fifth  of  July,  1187,  that  the  last  de¬ 
cisive  battle  was  fought  between  the  flower  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  chivalry  on  the  one  side  with  the  King  of  Jerusalem 
at  their  head,  and  on  the  other  the  immense  power  of  the 
Mohammedans  commanded  by  Saladin  in  person. 

The  usurpation  of  the  crown  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
weak-minded  and  irresolute  Guy  de  Lusignan  had  embit¬ 
tered  Count  Raymond  of  Tripolis  and  many  other  Chris¬ 
tian  barons ;  and  Raymond,  who  was  now  lord  of  Tibe¬ 
rias  and  Galilee,  had  entered  into  negotiations  with  Sal¬ 
adin  and  had  actually  received  aid  from  him.  Yet  a 
general  truce  was  concluded  with  the  Sultan,  and  the 
Christians  were  enjoying  the  prospect  of  tranquility  when 
suddenly  Raynald  of  Chatiilon,  in  open  violation  of  the 
truce,  plundered  a  caravan  of  Moslem  merchants  passing 
between  Arabia  and  Damascus,  laid  his  prisoners  in 
chains,  and  refused  to  release  them  on  Saladin’s  demand. 
The  enraged  sultan  made  a  solemn  vow  of  vengeance, 
and  swore  that  he  would  yet  kill  Raynald  with  his  own 
hand.  Hosts  of  Moslem  warriors  were  quickly  sum¬ 
moned  from  Mesopotamia,  Egypt  and  Arabia,  and  the 
Christian  princes  were  compelled  to  lay  aside  their  per¬ 
sonal  strifes  to  meet  the  unexpected  danger. 

For  five  weeks  the  Christians  waited  at  the  fountain 
of  Sefuriyeh,  and  at  length  the  hosts  of  Saladin  broke 


398 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


like  a  flood  upon  the  land.  They  penetrated  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Nazareth,  Jezreel  and  Mount  Gilboa, 
wasting  the  country  with  fire  and  sword  and  devastating 
Mount  Tabor.  Tiberias  was  attacked  and  the  town  fell, 
the  wife  of  Count  Raymond  being  compelled  to  retire 
into  the  citadel.  Saladin  encamped  on  the  heights  north 
of  Tiberias  in  the  hope  of  drawing  the  Christians  on  to 
attack  him  in  that  position. 

On  the  third  day  of  July  the  Christian  leaders  held  a 
council  of  war.  The  general  voice  was  in  favor  of  an 
instant  march  against  Saladin,  so  as  to  relieve  Tiberias 
without  delay.  Count  Raymond  however,  though  he 
might  have  been  expected  to  be  more  impatient  than  the 
rest,  urged  that  they  should  remain  at  Sefuriyeh.  If  they 
abandoned  their  present  position,  he  said,  they  would  ex¬ 
pose  themselves  to  constant  assaults  from  the  Saracen 
army  in  a  region  without  wrater  where  they  might  soon 
find  that  their  retreat  had  been  cut  off.  To  this  wise  ad¬ 
vice  all  in  the  council  agreed,  with  the  single  exception 
of  the  Master  of  the  Templars. 

The  council  broke  up  at  midnight,  but  hardly  had  the 
barons  laid  them  down  to  rest  when  the  trumpets  sounded 
and  heralds  went  through  the  camp  giving  the  call  to 
arms.  The  Master  of  the  Templars  after  the  council 
had  sought  the  king’s  tent,  and  had  overwhelmed  him 
with  reproaches  for  listening  to  the  council  of  a  traitor 
like  Raymond,  and  the  fickle  king  had  yielded  to  the 
Templar’s  urgency.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  barons  now 
sought  to  expostulate ;  he  refused  to  listen,  and  the  march 
toward  Tiberias  was  begun. 

This  movement  of  the  Christians  was  precisely  what 
Saladin  desired.  When  his  scouts  reported  that  the 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYRE  AND  SIDON.  399 


Christians  were  in  motion  he  immediately  despatched 
light  troops  to  hang  upon  their  flanks  and  rear,  while  he 
proceeded  to  dispose  his  main  army  on  the  high  ground 
above  the  lake  between  Tiberias  and  Hattin.  On  the  after¬ 
noon  of  July  the  fourth  the  Christians  reached  the  open 
ground  around  the  village  of  El-Lubiyeh,  where  they  re¬ 
ceived  a  violent  onslaught  of  the  Saracens.  They  were 
exhausted  with  the  torrid  heat  and  parched  with  thirst 
but  had  not  a  drop  of  water  to  relieve  them.  Their 
strength  began  to  fail.  Fear  and  dismay  began  to  spread 
through  their  ranks  and  omens  of  dire  import  began  to 
be  recognized.  But  instead  of  pressing  on  to  the  main 
body  of  Saladin,  or  at  least  forcing  their  way  through  to 
the  waters  of  the  lake,  the  weak-minded  king  gave  orders 
to  encamp  on  the  high  rocky  plain  where  there  was  no 
water  and  to  defer  the  final  conflict  to  the  following  day. 

The  night  was  dreadful  to  the  Christians,  tortured  with 
thirst  and  sleepless  in  the  momentary  expectation  of  a 
night  attack.  To  add  to  their  sufferings,  the  Saracens 
approached  the  camp  and  by  burning  up  the  dry  shrubs 
and  herbage  overwhelmed  them  with  clouds  of  stifling 
smoke.  When  the  morning  of  the  fifth  dawned  they 
found  themselves,  as  might  have  been  expected,  wholly 
surrounded  by  the  Moslem  host.  Gallantly  forming  in 
solid  phalanx,  they  advanced  upon  the  foe  only  to  find 
the  foe  retire  before  them,  while  their  flanks  were  con¬ 
stantly  assailed.  The  strategy  of  Saladin  was  to  fight 
no  serious  battle  with  them,  but  to  wear  them  out  in  a 
succession  of  fruitless  efforts.  Saladin  succeeded.  Ut¬ 
terly  hopeless  and  worn  out,  the  foot-soldiers  began  to 
break  ranks  and  surrender  at  discretion.  The  knights, 
in  great  disorder,  attempted  to  withdraw  from  further 


400 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


fight  and  encamp  around  the  Cross ;  but  now  the  Sara¬ 
cens  pressed  them  closely,  and  the  archers  poured  in 
showers  of  arrows.  King  Guy  gave  orders  to  renew  the 
fight.  It  was  too  late.  When  ordered  to  advance,  the 
knights  of  Raymond  raised  the  coward  cry  of  Sauve  qui 
pent ! — spurred  their  horses  through  the  ranks  of  the 
enemy,  which  opened  before  them,  and  he  and  they 
escaped  in  shameful  flight  in  the  direction  of  Tyre. 

All  was  lost,  but  all  was  not  yet  over.  The  king  with¬ 
drew  to  the  height  of  Hattin ;  and  there,  from  the  spot 
where  Christ  is  thought  to  have  sat  teaching  the  multi¬ 
tude,  King  Guy  three  times  hurled  back  the  Moslem 
power  before  the  standard  of  the  Cross  went  down  before 
the  crescent.  The  small  remnant  of  the  Christian  army 
were  made  prisoners.  The  perfidious  Raynald  was  slain 
by  Saladin’s  own  hand.  Two  hundred  Christian  knights 
were  put  to  death.  The  king  and  captive  princes  were 
transferred  by  their  conqueror  to  Damascus. 

Thus  the  Christian  power  in  Palestine  was  broken. 
The  Christian  fortresses,  weakened  by  the  loss  of  their 
garrisons  which  had  been  sent  to  perish  at  Hattin,  were 
easily  reduced.  The  Castle  of  Tiberias  surrendered  on 
the  day  after  the  battle,  and  on  the  next  day  Saladin 
marched  to  the  siege  of  Acre.  Before  the  end  of  Sep¬ 
tember  Askalon,  Joppa,  Csesarea,  Acre  and  all  the  cities 
of  the  northern  coast  except  Tyre  were  in  his  hands,  and 
on  the  third  day  of  October  Jerusalem  capitulated.  Sal¬ 
adin  was  master  of  the  Holy  City. 

Six  miles  north  of  Sepphoris  was  Jotopata ,  now  Tell 
Jefatj  famous  for  its  siege  by  Vespasian,  and  for  the  cap¬ 
ture  of  the  Jewish  general  and  historian,  Josephus.  It 
is  a  lofty  round  hill  almost  surrounded  by  mountains  and 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYRE  AND  SIDON. 


401 


connected  by  a  low  spur  with  those  on  the  north.  The 
top  of  the  hill  is  flat  and  naked.  There  are  no  remains 
of  fortifications,  the  works  of  soft  limestone  having  crum¬ 
bled  away.  On  the  north  side  of  the  spur  are  the  re¬ 
mains  of  a  deserted  village.  The  account  of  the  siege 
of  Jotopata  given  by  Josephus  is  doubtless  an  exaggera¬ 
tion,  intended  at  once  to  glorify  himself  by  the  grandeur 
of  his  downfall  and  to  gratify  the  Romans  by  magnifying 
the  difficulties  of  the  siege.  The  approach  to  the  city 
through  the  Wady  Jefat  must  indeed  have  been  almost 
impassable  to  a  great  army,  but  the  hill  of  Jefat  is  by  no 
means  so  impregnable  as  Josephus  represents  it.  He 
says,  u  Now  Jotopata  is  almost  all  of  it  built  upon  a 
precipice,  having  on  all  the  other  sides  of  it  valleys  im¬ 
mensely  steep  and  deep,  insomuch  that  those  who  would 
look  down  would  have  their  sight  fail  them  before  it 
could  reach  to  the  bottom.  This  mountain  Josephus  had 
encompassed  with  a  wall  when  he  fortified  the  city.”  It 
was  during  this  siege  that  the  Jews,  when  worn  out  with 
fighting  and  watching,  repulsed  the  Romans  by  pouring 
down  upon  them  floods  of  boiling  oil.  The  town  was  at 
last  betrayed  by  a  deserter,  who  told  the  Romans  how 
they  might  attack  it  successfully.  He  was  not  at  first 
believed,  as  treason  was  almost  unknown  among  the 
Jews.  Prisoners  chose  rather  to  die  under  torture  than 
reveal  the  state  of  their  besieged  compatriots,  and  one 
man  who  was  crucified  scornfully  smiled  at  his  execu¬ 
tioners  while  hanging  on  the  cross.  Vespasian  how¬ 
ever  thought  it  well  to  follow  the  indications  given  by 
the  traitor,  and  Jotopata  was  taken.  Josephus  and  others 
took  refuge  in  a  cave.  Vespasian  sent  an  officer  to 

assure  him  of  his  life  if  he  would  surrender,  but  his 

26 


402 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


companions  refused  to  allow  him  to  surrender,  notwith¬ 
standing  a  specious  address  in  which  he  sought  to  induce 
them  to  submit.  At  his  suggestion  they  then  resolved 
that  they  would  all  die  together,  and  drew  lots  with  the 
understanding  that  the  drawer  of  the  first  should  he  slain 
by  the  second,  and  he  by  the  third,  and  so  on.  All  per¬ 
ished  except  Josephus  and  one  other  man,  who  agreed 
with  him  that  life  was  better  than  death.  It  would  be 
too  much  to  say  that  Josephus  contrived  to  manipulate 
the  lots  so  as  to  save  his  own  life  after  witnessing  the 
death  of  his  companions ;  but  his  sanctimonious  reasons 
for  his  conduct  stamp  him  as  a  hypocrite  who  might 
easily  be  guilty  of  such  a  fraud. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  our  Saviour, 
in  his  circuit  through  u  all  the  cities  and  villages v  of 
Galilee,  ever  entered  the  only  seaport  of  the  province, 
which  was  then  called  Ptolemais.  Its  more  ancient  name 
had  been  Accho ,  which  signifies  Hot  Sand.  Its  modern 
names  are  Akka  and  Acre  or  Saint  Jean  d’Acre.  Akka  is 
situated  at  the  northern  headland  of  the  beautiful  bay,  the 
only  bay  on  all  the  coast  of  Palestine,  of  which  Mount  Car¬ 
mel  forms  the  southern  promontory.  Across  the  bay 
from  Akka  to  the  head  of  Carmel  the  distance  is  about 
six  miles.  Like  Joppa  on  the  coast  of  Judea,  and  like 
Csesarea  in  Samaria,  Ptolemais  was  an  unsafe  port  for 
shipping  j  but  as  it  was  the  only  port  to  which  the  way 
was  open  from  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon,  from  the  plains 
lying  north  of  the  Nazareth  hills,  and  through  these  from 
the  country  beyond  Jordan,  it  was  a  place  of  much  im¬ 
portance  ;  and  being  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  the 
sea  with  a  narrow  neck  of  land  in  front,  it  was  singu¬ 
larly  well  adapted  for  defence.  It  commands  the  en- 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYRE  AND  SIDON.  403 


trances  to  Galilee,  and  round  the  sandy  beach  which  lies 
between  Carmel  and  the  sea  many  an  army  has  marched 
from  the  Plain  of  Acre  into  the  Plain  of  Sharon.  Acre 
has  therefore  been  properly  regarded  as  the  military  key 
to  Palestine  j  and  since  foreign  rice  has  become  the 
ordinary  food  of  the  inhabitants,  it  has  been  said  with 
some  truth  that  u  the  lord  of  Acre,  if  he  will,  may  cause 
a  famine  to  be  felt  all  over  Syria.’7 

At  the  very  foot  of  the  northern  side  of  Mount  Carmel, 
and  within  the  bay — commonly  called  the  Bay  of  Acre — is 
the  little  port  of  Haifa.  Steamers  call  at  it  when  the  weather 
permits,  but  the  harbor  has  long  been  choked  with  sand 
and  also  it  is  said  by  mud  from  the  mouth  of  the  Nile. 
Thence  around  the  bay  to  Akka  there  is  a  broad  belt  of 
sand  between  the  sea  and  the  green  plain  beyond.  The 
shore  is  strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  ships  where  many  a 
gallant  vessel  has  gone  to  pieces.  Two  miles  north  from 
Haifa  is  the  mouth  of  the  Kishon,  the  bed  of  which  is  at 
one  time  wholly  dry,  at  other  times  easily  fordable,  and 
then  again  only  to  be  crossed  by  swimming  the  horses. 
The  Kishon  is  so  uncertain  a  stream  and  runs,  if  it  can 
be  said  to  run,  through  so  treacherous  a  swamp,  that  no 
one  except  McGregor,  the  adventurous  navigator  of  the 
Rob  Roy,  has  ever  attempted  to  explore  its  course.  Even 
he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  enterprise  when  a  large 
crocodile  rose  under  his  famous  canoe  and  nearly  upset 
it.  Yet  further  on  toward  Akka  is  a  dark  and  sluggish 
stream  called  Nahr  en  Waman ,  the  ancient  Belus ,  where 
u  the  treasures  hid  in  the  sand  ”  were  first  revealed  by 
the  vitrification  which  suggested  the  art  of  making  glass 
(Deut.  xxxiii :  19).  Along  this  shore  there  were  fish¬ 
eries  of  the  purple  sea-snail  which  is  still  to  be  found, 


404 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


and  from  which  was  made  the  famous  Tyrian  purple. 
The  soil  of  the  plain  is  naturally  rich,  and  fully  justifies 
the  prophetic  saying  of  Asher  “let  him  dip  his  foot  in 
oil,”  that  “  his  bread  shall  be  fat,  and  he  shall  yield  royal 
dainties  ”  (Deut.  xxxiii :  24  ;  Gen.  xlix  :  20). 

Though  this  fertile  country  fell  to  the  lot  of  the  tribe 
of  Asher,  Accho  was  never  wrested  from  its  original  inhab¬ 
itants  (Judg.  i :  31),  and  was  described  by  ancient  writers 
as  a  city  of  Phoenicia.  It  is  never  mentioned  in  the  Old 
Testament  history  except  in  this  one  passage  in  Judges, 
and  in  profane  history  it  is  not  mentioned  as  a  place  of 
importance  until  after  the  dismemberment  of  the  empire 
of  Alexander.  In  the  division  of  that  empire,  it  was 
given  with  the  rest  of  Phoenicia  to  Ptolemy  Lagus,  and 
received  the  name  of  Ptolemais,  probably  in  honor  of 
Ptolemy  Soter.  In  the  wars  which  followed  between 
Egypt  and  Syria,  Ptolemais  was  taken  by  Antiochus  the 
Great,  who  made  it  his  base  of  operations  against  the 
Maccabees  after  they  had  gained  possession  of  Judea. 
Simon  Maccabeus  drove  the  Syrians  back  to  Ptolemais, 
but  did  not  take  the  city  (1  Macc.  v  :  22).  On  the  decay 
of  the  Syrian  power,  Ptolemais  succeeded  in  establishing 
its  independence  j  but  it  was  taken  by  Cleopatra,  and 
by  her  transferred  with  her  daughter  Selene  to  the  Syrian 
monarchy.  It  was  next  besieged  and  taken  by  Tigranes, 
but  fell  at  length  under  the  all-conquering  power  of  Rome 
and  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  a  Roman  colony  by  the 
Emperor  Claudius.  Many  Jews  must  have  resided  in 
Ptolemais,  since  two  thousand  of  them  were  put  to  death 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  Roman  war.  The  church  was 
early  planted  there,  and  St.  Luke  records  that  on  their 
way  from  Tyre  to  Jerusalem  he  and  St.  Paul  “came  to 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYBE  AND  SIDON.  405 


Ptolemais,  and  saluted  the  brethren,  and  abode  with  them 
one  day  ”  (Acts  xxi :  7). 

The  mediaeval  and  modern  history  of  this  ancient  city 
is  full  of  vicissitudes.  After  the  fall  of  Jerusalem  and 
the  surrender  of  Caesarea  it  was  taken  by  the  Arabs  in 
A.  D.  638.  After  a  siege  begun  in  1103  it  was  taken 
by  Baldwin  in  1104.  For  more  than  eighty  years  it 
flourished  under  the  Crusaders,  until  it  was  taken  from 
them  by  Saladin  in  1187.  In  1189  King  Guy  de  Lu- 
signan  besieged  it  on  the  landward  side  with  an  army  of 
10,000  men,  while  a  Pisan  fleet  co-operated  with  him  by 
sea;  but  for  two  years  the  city  held  out.  On  the  15th 
of  June,  1191,  Richard  Coeur  de  Lion  joined  in  the 
attack,  and  on  the  12th  of  July  Acre  fell.  It  contained 
many  Saracens  of  rank  whom  Richard  offered  to  put  to 
ransom ;  but  Saladin  not  paying  the  ransom  agreed  upon, 
the  English  conqueror  brutally  slaughtered  2500  pris¬ 
oners  in  a  field  outside  the  city. 

For  a  hundred  years  Acre  continued  to  be  the  centre 
of  Christian  power  in  Palestine.  It  was  the  court  of  the 
King  and  the  seat  of  the  Patriarch.  The  Knights  of  St. 
John  established  their  headquarters  there,  and  from  them 
it  took  its  mediaeval  name  of  Saint  Jean  d’Acre.  The 
Teutonic  Knights  followed,  and  acquired  large  estates  in 
the  vicinity.  A  reign  of  luxury  and  confusion  followed, 
such  as  probably  has  never  been  seen  in  any  other  city 
of  the  world.  There  was  a  nominal  sovereign,  but  there 
was  no  real  sovereignty.  The  motley  remnants  of  the 
Christian  powers  claimed  absolute  independence  of  each 
other.  Within  the  narrow  limits  of  which  Acre  was  the 
chief  place,  Gibbon  says,  “  The  kings  of  Jerusalem  and 
Cyprus,  of  the  House  of  Lusignan ;  the  Princes  of  Anti- 


406 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


och  j  the  Counts  of  Tripoli  and  Sidon  ;  the  great  Masters 
of  the  Temple,  the  Hospital  and  the  Teutonic  Orders  ;  the 
Republics  of  Venice,  Genoa  and  Pisa  j  the  Pope’s  Legate  ; 
the  kings  of  France  and  England, — assumed  an  independ¬ 
ent  command.  Seventeen  tribunals  exercised  the  power  of 
life  and  death.”  The  end  of  this  confusion  came  when  the 
Sultan  Ashraf  took  and  utterly  destroyed  the  city,  which 
was  never  rebuilt  until  the  18th  century. 

About  the  middle  of  the  18th  century  a  certain  Sheikh 
Zahir  el  Omar  established  himself  in  Central  Palestine 
and  made  his  residence  at  Acre,  which  he  fortified,  and 
which  under  him  became  prosperous.  Unhappily  he 
was  succeeded  by  Jezzar  Pasha,  whose  name  of  Jezzar , 
the  Butcher,  fitly  characterized  the  man,  but  who  added 
largely  to  the  buildings  of  the  city.  In  1799  Acre  was 
besieged  by  the  French  under  Napoleon,  but  after  eight 
desperate  assaults  they  failed  to  take  it,  and  Sir  Sidney 
Smith  rolled  back  the  tide  of  conquest  on  the  French 
invader.  In  1804  Jezzar  died,  to  the  great  relief  and 
joy  of  his  subjects,  who  were  thenceforth  in  comparative 
peace.  In  1831  Ibrahim  Pasha  invaded  Syria  from 
Egypt  and  besieged  Acre.  In  1832  the  city  fell  and 
was  mercilessly  plundered  ;  and  scarcely  had  it  recovered 
from  that  misfortune  when  it  was  again  bombarded  by 
the  fleets  of  England,  Austria  and  Turkey,  who  were 
resolved  to  drive  out  the  Egyptian  Pasha. 

After  these  many  devastations  Acre  has  ceased  to 
have  any  antiquities,  and  when  one  considers  all  that  it 
has  passed  through,  the  old  saying  seems  to  be  true, 
u  Happy  is  the  people  that  has  no  history  !”  The  popula¬ 
tion  numbers  about  11,000  souls,  of  whom  three-fourths 
are  Mohammedans.  There  is  a  large  trade  in  the  export 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYRE  AND  SIDON.  407 


of  grain  from  the  country  beyond  Jordan.  The  trans¬ 
port  over  land  is  by  camels,  and  long  trains  of  these 
patient  beasts  of  burden  are  constantly  passing  along  the 
road  north  of  Nazareth  and  near  to  Sefuriyeh.  In  the 
time  of  our  Saviour,  when  the  country  was  at  its  highest 
point  of  prosperous  activity,  u  the  multitude  of  camels 77 
and  u  dromedaries  of  Midian  77  thronged  that  same  road 
in  greater  numbers  than  now ;  and  even  in  his  child¬ 
hood  at  Nazareth  the  Saviour  must  often  have  beheld 
the  commerce  of  the  great  Roman  world  moving  past  the 
quiet  and  secluded  village  where  he  had  his  home. 

From  the  Kishon  northward  the  plain  of  Acre  extends 
about  twenty  miles  with  an  average  width  of  five,  and 
ends  at  the  rugged  ridge  of  the  Ladder  of  Tyre  which 
juts  out  two  miles  into  the  sea.  The  ridge  is  eight 
miles  wide,  and  has  three  distinct  promontories.  The 
most  southerly  is  called  Las  el  MusJieirifeh.  It  is  the 
loftiest  and  boldest,  and  has  often  been  erroneously  de¬ 
scribed  as  the  Ladder  of  Tyre.  The  second  however 
which  is  called  Las  en  Nakurah  is  the  true  Scala  Tyri- 
oram.  The  third  is  Las  el  Abyad ,  which  does  not  jut 
into  the  sea  more  than  about  a  mile.  An  eloquent 
traveller  says,  u  The  route  from  Acre  to  Tyre  is  very 
wild  and  varied.  A  three  hours7  progress  over  the  fine 
plain  of  Acre  ends  at  the  foot  of  bold  cliffs  of  toilsome 
ascent.  The  path  overhangs  the  sea,  which  it  commands 
beautifully,  yet  fearfully,  to  a  great  extent  both  behind 
and  in  front.  All  is  not  barren  ;  the  naked  masses  of 
rock  are  often  relieved  by  more  fertile  places  covered 
with  lavender  and  rosemary,  with  a  sprinkling  of  lofty 
trees.  It  is  a  silent,  sublime  and  sea-beat  scene,  recall¬ 
ing  vividly  many  parts  of  the  British  coast  where  the 


408 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


Atlantic  rolls  its  strength  against  the  granite  precipices ; 
so  like  in  feature,  in  sound,  in  association,  that  at  times 
one  can  scarcely  believe  this  to  be  part  of  the  ruined 
Land  of  Promise.  Thickets  of  myrtle  and  bay  at  inter¬ 
vals  border  the  narrow  and  rugged  path  which  is  cut 
through  the  calcareous  rock.  In  one  part  the  track  is 
really  perilous,  winding  on  the  side  of  vast  perpendicular 
precipices,  with  the  sea  dashing  far  below  and  the  horrible 
path  hanging  above.  There  the  traveller  will  do  well  to 
dismount  if  he  wishes  to  enjoy  the  wild  sublimity  of  the 
scene,  and  to  listen  calmly  to  the  fierce  music  of  the 
waves  dashing  against  the  rocks.  On  the  most  southerly 
of  the  three  promontories  of  the  ridge  is  a  ruined  watch- 
tower  from  which  the  ruins  of  Tyre  are  first  seen.  The 
noonday  light  beats  full  upon  its  rocks,  its  peninsula  of 
sand,  its  ruined  palaces,  and  its  modern  homes ;  but  no 
cry  of  the  mariner,  no  voices  from  the  once  crowded 
mart  or  from  the  chambers  of  departed  luxury,  come  over 
the  waters.” 

From  the  Ladder  of  Tyre  to  the  city  of  Tyre  the  road 
lies  along  a  narrow  plain  which  bears  the  same  name, 
and  which  is  rarely  more  than  two  miles  wide.  The  dis¬ 
tance  in  a  straight  line  is  sixteen  miles,  but  the  winding 
of  the  shore  makes  the  road  something  over  twenty. 
About  three  miles  south  of  Tyre  is  an  ancient  reservoir 
called  Has  el  Ain ,  or  the  Head  of  the  Spring,  where 
tradition  has  it  that  our  Saviour  was  met  by  the  Syro- 
Phoenician  woman  (Mark  vii :  24-31)  whose  humility  in 
asking  only  for  crumbs  from  the  Master’s  table  brought 
her  so  rich  a  reward.  Somewhere  in  that  narrow  plain 
they  must  have  met  on  the  only  occasion  certainly 
known  to  us  when  liis  feet  trod  on  Gentile  soil  after  the 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYRE  AND  SIDON.  409 


return  from  Egypt.  Mediaeval  tradition  affirms  that  He 
rested  on  a  great  stone  near  Ras  el  Ain,  and  that  after 
drinking  of  its  water  which  Peter  and  John  brought 
him  He  blessed  the  beautiful  spot  from  whence  it  came. 

Tyre  is  a  difficult  place  to  treat  briefly  $  not  that  its 
present  appearance  might  not  be  easily  portrayed  with 
pen  or  pencil,  but  that  its  long  and  eventful  history  is  so 
full  of  historical  romance  that  to  condense  it  is  almost 
impossible. 

At  present  Tyre  stands  on  a  peninsula,  but  a  more 
ancient  town  existed  on  the  mainland  while  the  future 
site  of  the  great  Queen  City  of  Syria  was  yet  two  rocky 
and  barren  islands.  The  original  name  of  that  ancient 
town  has  perished.  In  history  it  is  mentioned  only  as 
Palsetyrus  or  Old  Tyre,  though  it  continued  to  be  inhab¬ 
ited  for  many  ages  as  a  suburb  of  the  younger  commer¬ 
cial  city.  At  an  early  time  the  two  islands  were  united 
by  filling  up  the  space  between  them  with  stones,  and  the 
action  of  the  waves,  filling  the  crevices  with  sand,  made  the 
two  islands  nearly  one.  The  name  of  Tyre  in  Hebrew, 
and  probably  also  in  the  Phenician  language,  was  Tzor , 
from  which  came  on  the  one  hand  Tyrus  or  Tyre ,  and  on 
the  other  Sara  and  the  modern  name  of  Sur.  It  is  ex¬ 
tremely  likely  that  the  whole  province  of  Syria  took  its 
name  from  the  same  root.  The  island  city  measured 
only  1200  yards  from  north  to  south  and  800  from  east 
to  west.  Its  entire  circuit  did  not  amount  to  three  miles, 
and  its  area  was  not  over  two  hundred  acres.  It  was 
bordered  with  rugged  rocks  rising  thirty  or  forty  feet 
above  the  sea,  which  the  inhabitants  cut  out  into  docks 
and  convenient  landing-places.  On  the  northern  side 
was  a  harbor  of  small  extent,  not  having  much  over 


410 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


twelve  acres  of  surface,  and  on  the  south  there  appears 
to  have  been  a  mole  which  formed  another  and  larger 
harbor.  But  the  Tyrian  works  have  never  been  accu¬ 
rately  traced.  Only  the  immense  size  of  the  blocks  of 
granite  and  the  grand  columns — grand  though  fallen — 
which  are  still  to  be  seen,  many  of  them  under  the  waves, 
show  that  in  its  days  of  prosperity  the  ships  of  Tyre 
lacked  no  means  of  safety  that  art  or  industry  could  fur¬ 
nish. 

The  narrow  limits  of  Phenicia  proper,  extending  only 
from  Tyre  to  Sidon  twenty  miles  north  and  thence  to 
Berytus  the  modern  Beyrout,  were  in  ancient  times  in¬ 
habited  by  a  people  of  one  race  who  were  called  Sidon- 
ians.  Virgil  calls  Tyre  itself  the  Sidonian  City,  and  a 
much  earlier  author  calls  the  inhabitants  of  Tyre  Sidon- 
ians  (1  Kings  v  :  6).  From  these  facts  it  may  perhaps 
be  inferred  that  Sidon  was  at  first  the  chief  city  of 
Phenicia  and  was  afterward  outstripped  by  its  more  en¬ 
terprising  rival. 

In  the  time  of  Joshua  Tyre  was  a  u  strong  city,”  that 
is,  a  fortified  place  (Josh,  xix  :  29);  but  although  it  was 
allotted  to  the  tribe  of  Asher,  it  was  never  taken  into 
possession.  There  as  elsewhere  the  children  of  Israel 
u  dwelt  among  the  Canaanites,  for  they  did  not  drive 
them  out  ”  (Judg.  i  :  31,  32)  ;  but  they  continued  never¬ 
theless  to  be  reckoned  as  belonging  to  Israel,  so  that, 
when  David  made  his  census  of  all  his  subjects,  the 
Israelitish  inhabitants  of  Tyre  were  included  in  the 
enumeration  (2  Sam.  xxiv  :  7).  Between  Solomon  and 
Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  a  strong  friendship  existed.  For 
the  building  of  the  temple  Hiram  sent  cedar  trees  and 
fir  trees  in  rafts  from  Tyre  to  Joppa,  a  distance  of 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYRE  AND  SIDON.  411 


seventy-four  geographical  miles,  besides  making  other 
valuable  contributions  to  the  sacred  work  j  and  Solomon, 
in  return,  sent  grain  and  oil  to  Hiram  (1  Kings  v :  9  ;  2 
Chron.  ii :  16).  The  consequence  of  these  royal  ex¬ 
changes  of  courtesy  was  a  league  between  the  two  mon- 
archs,  and  although  Hiram  was  not  greatly  pleased  at  the 
gift  of  the  district  or  circle  (galil)  of  Cabul  which  Solo¬ 
mon  gave  him  (1  Kings  ix  :  10-15),  he  could  hardly  have 
been  displeased  with  the  trading  privileges  which  were 
granted  to  him  in  certain  parts  of  the  Bed  Sea  (1  Kings 
ix  :  26—28).  In  the  story  of  the  intercourse  of  Hiram 
and  Solomon  we  have  some  insight  into  the  state  of  Tyre 
at  that  time.  Its  government  was  monarchical ;  it  was 
engaged  in  an  extensive  commerce  j  it  had  a  large  trade 
in  the  timber  with  which  the  mountains  of  Lebanon  were 
covered  j  but  above  all,  it  had  attained  to  such  skill  in 
the  working  of  metals  that  Hiram,  a  widow’s  son  of  the 
tribe  of  Naphtali,  a  workman  of  Tyre,  was  the  artificer 
of  all  ornamental  metal-work  of  the  temple  (1  Kings  vii : 
13-45). 

After  the  division  of  Israel  into  two  kingdoms  the 
northern  division  continued  the  alliance  with  Phenicia, 
and  King  Ahab  married  the  bloody  Jezebel,  who  was  a 
daughter  of  Ethbaal,  King  of  the  Sidonians  (1  Kings 
•*xvi:31);  but  when  the  ten  tribes  fell  into  misfortune 
their  former  friends  were  perfectly  ready  to  purchase 
their  effects  from  the  conquerors,  and  even  to  make  mer¬ 
chandise  of  the  Israelitish  captives  whom  they  sold  in 
Grecian  ports  (Joel  iii :  4-8  ;  Amos  ix  :  10).  Tyre  was 
then  enjoying  a  period  of  marvellous  prosperity.  She 
had  founded  the  city  of  Carthage  which  at  one  time  had 
more  than  an  even  chance  to  become  the  mistress  of  the 


412 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


world.  She  had  gained  possession  of  the  island  of  Cyprus. 
She  had  engaged  the  services  of  an  army  of  faithful 
mercenaries  (Ezek.  xxvii :  10,  11)  who  defended  her 
against  all  comers.  She  traded  with  Arabia  for  gold  from 
the  further  east ;  from  Spain  she  brought  silver,  lead,  tin 
and  iron  ;  from  Cyprus,  and  perhaps  also  from  the  Cau¬ 
casus,  she  received  consignments  of  copper ;  Palestine 
sent  her  an  abundant  supply  of  wheat,  oil,  honey  and 
balm  ;  her  wine  came  from  Damascus  ;  caravans  from  the 
Persian  Gulf  brought  her  the  precious  ivory  of  India; 
her  famous  purple  dye-stuffs  were  found  on  her  own 
coast  and  came  also  from  Peloponnesus,  and  every  known 
sea  was  whitened  with  Tyrian  sails  made  of  cloth  woven 
in  Egypt.  The  narrow  boundaries  of  her  city  could  not 
contain  the  population  required  for  her  trade  and  manu¬ 
factures,  and  she  built  houses  of  many  stories  in  height 
— a  style  of  architecture  which  commanded  the  admira¬ 
tion  and  the  envy  of  her  neighbors.  So  self-confident 
was  she  that  when  Nebuchadnezzar  advanced  against 
Jerusalem  she  was  not  alarmed  at  the  advance  of  that 
powerful  monarch,  but  rather  rejoiced  in  the  approaching 
downfall  of  a  city  which  under  King  Josiah  had  within 
a  few  years  done  despite  to  the  gods  which  were  adored 
in  Tyre.  When  she  was  herself  attacked  and  besieged 
by  Nebuchadnezzar  she  held  out  stoutly  for  thirteen 
years,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  she  submitted  at  last  or 
whether  she  entered  into  an  alliance  with  him.  But  that 
long  war  weakened  her  and  for  a  time  she  fell  behind  Si- 
don  in  commercial  and  political  importance.  She  fell  first 
under  the  yoke  of  Egypt  and  then  of  Persia ;  but  she  still 
maintained  a  certain  independence,  and  when  Cambyses 
would  have  had  her  attack  Carthage  she  boldly  refused 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYRE  AND  SIDON.  413 


to  make  war  on  the  city  she  herself  had  founded.  Her 
dark  day  came  when  she  was  summoned  to  surrender  by 
Alexander  the  Great.  She  clung  to  her  Persian  connec¬ 
tion  and  the  conqueror  attacked  her.  Secure  in  her 
island  defences  she  defied  the  Macedonian  5  but  Alex¬ 
ander  constructed  a  road  between  the  city  and  the  main¬ 
land  which  the  sand  has  now  made  half  a  mile  in  width. 
Attacked  from  the  land  side  Tyre  fell,  and  the  conqueror 
took  bloody  vengeance  upon  his  gallant  enemies,  putting 
many  thousands  of  them  to  the  sword  and  selling  30,000 
captives  into  slavery. 

Gradually  Tyre  recovered  from  this  fearful  blow.  First 
under  the  Syrians  and  then  under  the  Romans,  she  was 
permitted  to  enjoy  a  reasonable  measure  of  freedom. 
Under  Augustus  she  again  became  wealthy  5  her  trade 
revived,  her  people  were  prosperous.  Her  dye-works 
alone  were  so  considerable  an  industry  that  Strabo  says 
they  made  the  city  an  unpleasant  place  of  residence  j  he 
adds  that  the  houses  were  loftier  and  had  more  stories 
than  the  houses  at  Rome.  Pliny  says  that  the  whole  city, 
including  the  peninsula  and  Palsetyrus  on  the  mainland, 
was  nineteen  Roman  miles  in  circumference.  There  is 
little  doubt  that  its  resident  population  was  greater  than 
that  of  Jerusalem ;  and  if  it  was  so,  it  was  undoubtedly 
the  largest  city  our  Saviour  ever  visited.  That  he  did 
visit  it  is  all  but  certain,  since  in  passing  to  u  the  coasts  ” 
of  Sidon  he  would  almost  certainly  pass  through  Tyre. 
Besides,  Nazareth  was  only  thirty  miles  from  Tyre,  and 
we  may  easily  conceive  that  he  went  there  frequently 
during  the  nearly  thirty  years  of  his  life  of  which  the 
Gospels  contain  no  record.  It  is  very  doubtful  whether 
the  Greek  language  was  used  in  Nazareth,  but  it  was 


414 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


spoken  at  Tyre,  and  it  was  undoubtedly  the  language 
used  in  his  conversation  with  the  Greek  woman  whom 
he  met  within  the  Tyrian  border  (Mark  vii :  24-31). 
Where  our  Saviour  learned  to  speak  Greek  we  do  not 
know,  but  it  is  by  no  means  impossible  that  he  may  have 
acquired  it  in  the  course  of  frequent  visits  to  Tyre. 

Christianity  was  early  planted  at  Tyre.  On  his  jour¬ 
ney  from  Macedonia  to  Caesarea  the  ship  in  which  St. 
Paul  sailed  called  there  to  change  cargo,  and  the  Apostle 
found  brethren  in  the  city  with  whom  he  spent  seven 
days  (Acts  xxi :  3-7).  The  Christian  community  grew 
rapidly.  A  Bishop  of  Tyre  is  recorded  to  have  been 
present  at  a  Church  Council  as  early  as  the  close  of  the 
second  century.  For  ages  this  fortunate  city  continued 
to  flourish  without  a  break  in  her  prosperity  while  nearly 
every  other  city  of  the  East  was  ravaged  again  and 
again ;  but  her  course  was  checked  when  she  was  taken 
by  the  Moslems  in  the  seventh  century  and  was  sub¬ 
jected  to  degrading  regulations.  She  was  again  flour¬ 
ishing  as  the  greatest  commercial  city  of  Syria  when 
she  was  taken  by  the  Crusaders  on  the  27th  of  June, 
1124.  In  the  following  year  the  celebrated  William  of 
Tyre  became  Archbishop.  Under  the  Crusaders  Tyre 
became  famous  for  its  manufacture  of  glass.  In  1190  the 
body  of  the  German  Emperor,  Frederic  Barbarossa,  was 
buried  there.  Early  in  the  fourteenth  century  the  in¬ 
habitants,  seeing  that  it  was  impossible  longer  to  hold  out 
against  the  Saracens,  abandoned  the  city  by  night, 
making  their  escape  on  the  sea  side,  so  that  when  the 
enemy  entered  it  was  to  find  nothing  but  an  empty 
town.  Tyre  soon  fell  into  complete  decay.  In  the  sev¬ 
enteenth  century  it  had  become  a  mere  heap  of  ruins  oc- 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYRE  AND  SIDON.  415 


cupied  by  a  few  wretched  fishermen ;  in  1751  it  had  only 
ten  inhabitants.  During  the  present  century  it  has 
somewhat  revived,  but  Beyrout  has  secured  the  trade 
which  might  again  have  made  it  an  important  commer¬ 
cial  city.  It  has  now  a  population  of  about  6000,  of 
whom  one-half  are  Mohammedans  and  the  rest  are  Chris¬ 
tians  and  J ews.  The  streets  are  miserable  $  the  houses 
are  dilapidated  j  few  antiquities  are  to  be  found  $  even 
the  hewn  stones  of  the  former  dwellings  and  harbors 
have  been  taken  away,  and  are  still  in  course  of  removal, 
to  be  used  at  Acre  and  Beyrout. 

On  the  peninsular  part  of  Tyre  the  most  interesting 
object  is  the  Crusader’s  Church  of  St.  Mark,  which  was 
built  by  the  Venetians.  It  is  said  to  have  been  founded 
in  1125  and  completed  early  in  the  thirteenth  century ; 
possibly  it  occupies  the  same  site  as  an  earlier  basilica 
which  was  consecrated  by  Eusebius  in  323.  It  was  in 
the  Church  of  St.  Mark  that  the  body  of  Barbarossa  was 
deposited,  but  German  explorers  have  failed  to  discover 
the  exact  spot  of  his  sepulchre. 

The  central  part  of  the  ancient  Palsetyrus  on  the  main¬ 
land  is  marked  by  a  hill  or  mound  called  Tell  Mol  shuk , 
where  the  Mohammedan  sanctuary  called  Wely  Ma ’  shuk 
is  perhaps  a  survival  of  a  Tyrian  temple.  Met?  shuk 
(Beloved)  was  perhaps  Astarte,  the  Beloved  of  Hercules, 
who  brought  her  the  treasures  of  the  ocean.  The  slopes 
of  the  hill  are  covered  with  ruins,  and  many  sarcophagi 
have  been  found  there.  Behind  the  Tell  on  the  east  is 
a  necropolis.  Two  or  three  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Ras 
el  Ain  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  and  striking  monuments 
in  all  Syria.  It  is  called  Kabr  Hairan ,  the  Tomb  of 
Hiram.  It  is  undoubtedly  a  Phenician  work  of  great 


416 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


antiquity,  and  it  may  very  possibly  be  the  actual  tomb  of 
King  Hiram.  The  pedestal  consists  of  huge  stones  in  two 
tiers,  above  which  is  a  still  thicker  slab  of  rock  overhang¬ 
ing  the  rest  of  the  pedestal  on  all  sides.  On  the  slab 
rests  a  massive  sarcophagus  of  irregular  pyramidal  form 
covered  with  a  stone  lid.  Excavations  made  by  Renan 
show  that  there  is  a  rock  chamber  under  the  tomb  with  a 
stairway  from  the  north  end  of  the  monument. 

The  road  from  Tyre  to  Sidon  runs  along  the  narrow 
plain  by  the  sea  through  a  country  full  of  interest  from 
the  many  antiquities  which  are  everywhere  to  be  found. 
To  none  of  them,  however,  can  we  give  attention  here. 
We  can  pause  only  to  notice  the  River  Litany,  which  has 
its  chief  source  near  Baalbec,  far  to  the  north  of  Mount 
Hermon,  and  rushes  between  the  mighty  mountain  ranges 
of  Lebanon  and  Anti-Lebanon,  through  the  wildest  gorges 
in  Palestine,  to  lose  itself  in  the  Mediterranean  a  few 
miles  north  of  Tyre. 

Midway  between  Tyre  and  Sidon  is  a  town  at  which 
we  must  pause  for  a  moment,  since  it  was  to  that  town 
and  along  this  same  road  by  the  sea  that  the  u  Lord  of 
Hair/’  the  grim  yet  gentle  Prophet  Elijah,  went  when  the 
sky  was  like  brass  and  the  whole  earth  was  parched 
under  a  three  years’  drought.  In  this  little  town,  upon  a 
hillside  by  the  sea,  was  she  who  was  to  minister  to  the 
prophet  at  that  time.  There  were  many  widows  in  Israel, 
but  to  none  of  them  was  Elijah  sent  (Luke  iv  :  25).  He 
was  sent  to  the  poor  widow  of  Zarephath , — afterwards 
called  Sarepta ,  and  now  Sarfend , — whom  he  found  gather¬ 
ing  two  sticks  to  cook  the  only  handful  of  meal  that  re¬ 
mained  in  the  barrel  and  the  little  oil  that  remained  in 
the  cruse  that  she  and  her  son  might  eat  it  before  they 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE— TYKE  AND  SIDON.  417 


died.  But  after  she  had  given  that  last  morsel  of  food  to 
the  hungering  prophet  the  barrel  of  meal  did  not  waste, 
neither  did  the  cruse  of  oil  fail,  until  the  day  that  the 
Lord  sent  rain  upon  the  earth  (1  Kings  xvii :  8-24). 

As  we  go  northward  toward  Sidon  we  are  reminded  of 
the  words  with  which  the  historian  Gibbon  closes  his 
chapter  on  the  Crusades,  u  A  mournful  and  solitary 
silence  now  prevails  along  the  shore  which  once  resounded 
with  the  world’s  debate.”  From  early  times  until  the 
close  of  the  Crusading  adventures  to  win  the  Holy  Land, 
Phenicia  has  indeed  u  resounded  with  the  world’s  de¬ 
bate.”  Now  all  is  still.  Since  Gibbon  wrote,  these 
shores  have  heard  the  roar  of  cannon  ;  but  now  again 
there  is  stillness — almost  of  death.  But  there  will  yet  be 
a  resurrection,  and  these  solitary  places  may  hereafter 
rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

Sidon,  now  called  Saida ,  shows  decided  signs  of  revival, 
but  it  is  far  indeed  from  the  glory  which  it  once  had.  In 
Bible  history  it  does  not  possess  the  interest  of  Tyre,  and 
its  story  may  be  more  easily  condensed.  In  Genesis  x  :  15 
Sidon  is  called  the  first-born  son  of  Canaan.  His  descend¬ 
ants  had  their  original  abode  near  the  Persian  Gulf.  Their 
territories  in  Phenicia  were  not  always  confined  to  the 
narrow  strip  of  sea-coast  but  extended  far  inland.  Their 
history,  as  related  by  themselves,  was  a  mere  tissue  of 
mythological  conceits.  Their  settlements  formed  them¬ 
selves  into  states  under  a  kind  of  aristocracy,  and  were 
joined  in  a  confederacy  of  which  it  is  probable  that  Sidon 
was  chief  and  therefore  gave  the  general  name  of  Sidon- 
ians  to  the  people  over  whom  it  had  some  pre-eminence. 
Soon  however  Tyre  outstripped  the  mother  city  and  as¬ 
sumed  a  leading  position  which  Sidon  never  regained.  In 

27 


418 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


the  book  of  Joshua,  Sidon  is  dignified  as  “the  Great ”  (xix : 
28)  ;  and  although  the  great  city  fell  behind  her  sister, 
and  seems  to  have  acknowledged  some  sort  of  dependence 
upon  her  (1  Kings  v  :  6  j  Ezek.  xxvii :  8),  yet  she  re¬ 
tained  her  own  autonomy  under  her  own  kings  (1  Kings 
xvi:31;  Jer.  xxv  :  22).  The  Sidonians  were  eminent 
in  the  learning  of  that  age,  that  is  in  astronomy  and 
arithmetic,  as  Tyre  was  in  manufactures.  In  commerce 
they  both  excelled.  In  general  the  course  of  the  history 
of  Sidon  runs  parallel  with  that  of  Tyre,  except  that 
under  the  Persian  rule  Sidon  was  almost  utterly  destroyed 
in  consequence  of  a  revolt,  B.  C.  351.  Forty  thousand 
persons  are  said  to  have  been  massacred  at  that  time, 
and  thereafter  the  city  was  comparatively  insignificant. 
It  was  still  however  treated  with  a  certain  consideration, 
and  in  the  Roman  period  it  was  governed  by  its  own 
Senate  and  municipal  officers.  Its  most  famous  manu¬ 
facture  was  that  of  glass. 

Christianity  was  introduced  into  Sidon  at  an  early  date. 
On  his  journey  to  Rome,  Paul  was  permitted  to  visit  his 
friends  there  (Acts  xxvii :  3).  At  the  Council  of  Nicsea, 
A.  D.  325,  a  bishop  of  Sidon  was  present.  On  the  inva¬ 
sion  of  Syria  by  the  Mohammedans,  Sidon  submitted  to  the 
followers  of  the  Prophet  without  a  blow ;  but  its  submis¬ 
sion  did  not  save  it  from  fearful  vicissitudes  during  “  the 
world’s  debate  ”  which  followed.  After  a  siege  of  six 
weeks  it  was  taken  by  Baldwin  in  1111.  In  1187,  after 
the  battle  of  Kurn  Hattin,  Saladin  razed  it  to  the  ground. 
Ten  years  later  it  was  re-occupied  by  the  Crusaders,  but 
they  were  driven  out  in  the  same  year,  and  what  re¬ 
mained  of  the  town  wras  again  destroyed.  In  1228  it 
was  rebuilt  by  the  Christians  and  strongly  fortified,  but 


TOWNS  OF  GALILEE—1 TYRE  AND  SIDON.  419 


in  the  year  1249  it  was  once  more  razed.  Kefortified 
by  Louis  IX  in  1253,  it  was  purchased  by  the  Templars ; 
but  again,  within  seven  years,  it  was  devastated  by  the 
Mongols.  Passing  finally  under  the  Moslem  power,  it 
was  cruelly  devastated,  and  for  centuries  it  seemed  to 
have  been  extinguished.  In  the  beginning  of  the  seven¬ 
teenth  century,  however,  it  was  made  the  residence  of 
the  Druse  Emir  ed-Din,  under  whom  it  flourished  and  be¬ 
came  noted  for  its  silk  trade  j  and  after  the  fall  of  the  Emir 
the  prosperity  of  Sidon  continued  until  its  commerce  was 
annihilated  by  Jezzar  Pasha.  Under  the  government  of 
Ibrahim  Pasha  it  once  more  revived  and  the  town  was 
fortified,  but  in  1840  the  allied  fleet  dismantled  the  forti¬ 
fications.  In  1860  the  Christian  population  was  fearfully 
persecuted  at  the  instigation  of  the  Turkish  governor, 
and  nearly  2000  Christians  are  said  to  have  been  brutally 
massacred.  Since  then  Saida  has  had  rest. 

Saida  is  beautifully  situated  on  a  promontory,  in  front 
of  which  is  an  island.  Beyond  the  plain  and  the  foot¬ 
hills  on  the  east  rise  the  snowy  crests  of  Lebanon.  In 
the  environs  are  orchards  full  of  bananas  and  palm  trees. 
The  anchorage  is  not  good.  All  around  the  island  are 
remains  of  quays  built  of  large  hewn  stones  ;  but  since 
Fakhr  ed-Din  closed  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  to  exclude 
the  Turkish  fleet,  the  hewn  stones  of  the  quays  have 
been  removed  to  be  used  elsewhere,  and  now  in  stormy 
weather  the  sea  washes  over  the  rocks  into  the  harbor. 
The  population  is  about  11,000  souls,  of  whom  8000  are 
Mohammedans  ;  the  rest  are  Jews,  Christians  and  Maron- 
ites.  In  the  necropolis  are  many  curious  tombs,  some  of 
which  are  of  high  antiquity.  But  of  u  Sidon  the  Great,” 
of  the  Sidon  which  Assyrian,  Macedonian,  Egyptian, 


420 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


Roman,  Arabian,  Frankish,  Saracen  and  Turkish  armies 
entered  and  plundered,  each  after  the  other,  nothing  re¬ 
mains.  Sidon  is  a  city  of  the  past.  Saida  is  a  modern 
Syrian  trading  town. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CiESAREA  PHILIPPI. 

When  our  Saviour  departed  from  the  coasts  of  Tyre 
and  Sidon  on  his  return  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee  his  most 
direct  route  would  be  almost  on  a  straight  line  to  the 
southeast  through  Giscala  and  Safed  to  Capernaum.  He 
did  not  tarry  there,  however,  but  went  at  once  among 
the  cities  of  Decapolis.  Those  ten  famous  cities  were 
Gentile  colonies  enjoying  under  the  Romans  many  special 
privileges  and  immunities  which  had  made  them  wealthy 
and  prosperous.  Few  of  them  had  ever  been  cities  of 
Israel,  and  the  Israelites  on  their  return  from  captivity 
had  never  been  able  to  re-occupy  even  those  which  had 
been  theirs.  Their  very  names  had  been  changed. 
Beth-shean,  for  example,  had  come  to  be  called  Scytli- 
opolis,  or  the  Scythian  City,  from  the  colonists  who  had 
been  settled  there  under  the  Graeco-Syrian  monarchy. 
It  is  remarkable  that  of  ?11  the  great  cities  of  Decapolis, 
not  one,  unless  we  except  Damascus  which  was  not  cer¬ 
tainly  one  of  them,  is  now  of  any  importance.  Seven  are 
entirely  desolate  and  uninhabited ;  only  three  have  a  few 
wretched  people, — living  at  Scythopolis  and  Canatha  in 
huts  and  caves,  and  at  Gadara  in  the  ancient  tombs.  It 
was  to  these  Gentile  or  semi-Gentile  communities  that 
Jesus  paid  a  brief  visit  after  leaving  Tyre  and  Sidon 

(Mark  vii :  31).  He  was  not  unknown  in  that  region, 

(  421 ) 


422 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


for  the  fame  of  his  wonderful  works  had  already  gone 
abroad  there  (Mark  v  :  20),  and  He  had  hardly  made  his 
appearance  in  the  district  before  a  man  was  brought  to 
him  who  was  wholly  deaf  and  had  also  an  impediment  in 
his  speech.  In  connection  with  the  healing  of  this  man 
St.  Mark  has  recorded  one  of  the  very  words  and  one  of 
the  few  significant  gestures  of  our  Saviour  ;  for  it  was 
then  that  He  lifted  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  sighed  as  He 
spoke  the  commanding  word,  u Ephphatha /” — Be  opened! 
— at  which  the  sufferer’s  u  ears  were  opened,  and  the 
string  of  his  tongue  was  loosed,  and  he  spake  plain  ”  (Mark 
vii :  32-35).  It  was  in  vain  that  Jesus  charged  the  people 
not  to  publish  what  He  had  done  ;  u  the  more  he  charged 
them,  so  much  the  more  a  great  deal  they  published  it.” 
Thousands  pressed  around  him  and  followed  his  steps 
into  the  rural  places  which  He  preferred  to  crowded 
cities.  Even  into  the  wilderness  four  thousand  of  them 
followed  him,  and  it  was  there  that  He  fed  them  all,  Avhen 
they  were  faint  and  famishing,  with  seven  loaves  and  a 
few  small  fishes  (Matt,  xv  :  32-38  j  Mark  viii :  1—8). 

Again  our  Lord  returned  to  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  but 
only  to  encounter  the  opposition  of  his  enemies  while  He 
went  about  doing  good  (Mark  viii :  10-26).  u  He  came 
unto  his  own  and  bis  own  received  him  not but  He 
had  u  other  sheep  ”  which  were  not  of  that  fold.  In  the 
days  to  come  He  was  yet  to  bring  those  other  sheep  into  the 
fold  which  his  own  refused  to  enter  $  and  at  this  time  He 
seems  to  have  looked  with  great  longing  to  the  multitude  of 
those  unfolded  sheep.  He  had  gone  into  the  coasts  of  Tyre 
and  Sidon ;  He  had  visited  the  cities  of  Decapolis,  and 
now  He  went  once  more  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Israel 
to  visit  the  towns  of  Csesarea  Philippi  (Matt,  xvi :  13). 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CAESAREA  PHILIPPI.  423 


In  going  from  the  Sea  of  Galilee  our  Lord  and  his 
disciples  had  a  choice  of  routes.  Leaving  Bethsaida- 
Julias  on  the  east  side  of  the  Jordan,  they  could  travel 
nearly  in  a  straight  line  northward  to  Caesarea,  passing 
through  many  towns,  the  sites  of  which  are  still  marked 
by  tells  or  ruins  all  along  that  road.  If  they  started 
from  Capernaum,  they  might  go  along  the  wrest  side  of 
the  Jordan  for  nearly  ten  miles  and  then  cross  to  the 
eastern  side  over  a  bridge  or  through  a  ford  of  the  river 
a  little  to  the  south  of  Lake  Huleh.  At  the  present  day 
the  crossing  is  by  a  bridge  called  the  Jisr  Benat  Yakut) , 
or  the  Bridge  of  Jacob’s  Daughters.  It  is  not  an  ancient 
structure,  though  it  is  strongly  built  of  basaltic  rock,  and 
it  was  last  repaired  by  Jezzar  Pasha,  the  cruel  ruler  of 
Acre.  It  is  quite  certain  that  this  has  always  been  the 
caravan  route  from  Damascus  and  the  Hauran  to  Egypt 
and  all  parts  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  it  was  undoubtedly 
by  this  route  that  Saul  of  Tarsus  went  breathing  threat- 
enings  and  slaughter  against  the  followers  of  Christ  at 
Damascus. 

The  Jisr  Benat  Yakub  is  a  point  of  military  import¬ 
ance.  During  the  Crusades  it  was  occupied  and  lost 
by  Baldwin  III.  Baldwin  IV  recovered  and  strength¬ 
ened  it  by  building  a  castle  which  he  committed  to  the 
Templars  in  1178,  only  to  be  destroyed  by  Saladin  in 
the  following  year.  Its  ruins  remain  at  some  distance 
from  the  bridge.  In  1799  this  was  the  extreme  point  of 
the  French  invasion  of  Syria,  and  in  turning  their  backs 
upon  the  Jisr  Benat  Yakub  the  French  abandoned  the 
dream  of  oriental  conquest  with  which  the  ambition  of 
Napoleon  had  inspired  them.  The  Jordan  here  is  eighty- 
seven  feet  above  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  rushes 


424 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


rapidly  toward  the  Sea  of  Galilee  in  a  channel  which  is 
eighty  feet  wide,  full  of  fish,  and  fringed  on  both  sides 
with  oleanders,  zakkum,  papyrus  and  gigantic  reeds. 

The  most  probable,  or  certainly  at  least  the  most  inter¬ 
esting,  route  from  Capernaum  to  Caesarea  would  be  alto¬ 
gether  on  the  west  side  of  the  Jordan  to  the  northern 
boundary  of  the  country  and  thence  to  the  eastern  side. 
All  along  that  route  our  Saviour  and  his  disciples  would 
pass  through  or  near  towns  and  cities  famous  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  Israel.  Back  from  the  river  and  the  western 
shore  of  Lake  Huleh  rises  a  chain  of  hills,  most  of  which 
were  once  crowned  with  cities  and  populous  villages.  In 
front,  toward  the  river  and  the  lake,  are  rich  plains  of 
arable  land,  and  where  these  are  abruptly  cut  off  by  a 
steep  descent  there  lies  between  the  hills  and  the  lake  a 
swamp  of  rank  and  marshy  vegetation.  The  whole  of 
the  southern  end  of  Lake  Huleh  is  bordered  with  impene¬ 
trable  morass  or  cane-brake,  in  which  is  found  the  largest 
growth  of  papyrus  in  the  world.  At  its  base  the  tri¬ 
angular  stalk  of  the  paper  plant,  which  the  Arabs  call 
babeer ,  is  three  inches  thick,  and  on  the  top  waves  a  tuft 
like  broom-corn.  The  open  water  of  the  lake  is  merely 
a  triangle,  but  north  of  it,  where  the  water  is  not  visible, 
is  a  mass  of  floating  papyrus,  through  which  and  under 
which  the  stream  of  the  Jordan  makes  its  way.  The 
plain  around  the  lake-swamp  is  exceedingly  productive. 
The  thistles  grow  to  an  enormous  height,  out-topping  a 
man  on  horseback,  and  their  sharp  thorns  are  a  great 
annoyance  to  horses.  The  wild  mustard  grows  so  high 
and  strong  that  finches  often  take  refuge  in  its  branches. 
This  is  the  most  magnificent  hunting-ground  in  Palestine  $ 
panthers,  leopards,  bears,  wild  boars,  wolves,  jackals, 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CiESAREA  PHILIPPI.  425 


hyenas,  foxes  and  gazelles  abound.  Of  water  fowl  there 
is  no  end.  The  pelican  is  also  found  in  the  waters  of 
Merom,  and  it  is  said  that  the  number  of  crows  and  rooks 
is  so  enormous  as  to  surpass  anything  known  elsewhere. 
In  the  oozy  swamp  the  u  bulls  of  Bashan  ”  still  delight  to 
wallow,  and  on  the  surrounding  plain  they  find  perennial 
pasturage.  The  herbage  is  so  mingled  with  flowers  as 
to  make  a  paradise  for  bees,  so  that  the  land  might  liter¬ 
ally  flow  with  milk  and  honey,  and  the  butter  is  the  best 
in  Palestine.  A  species  of  lily  is  found  here  which  may 
have  been  in  our  Saviour’s  mind  when  he  said,  u  Con¬ 
sider  the  lilies  how  they  grow.”  u  That  lily,”  says  Dr. 
Thomson,  u  is  large,  and  the  inner  petals  meet  above, 
forming  a  gorgeous  canopy  such  as  art  cannot  approach 
and  king  never  sat  under,  even  in  his  utmost  glory. 
When  I  found  this  glorious  flower  in  all  its  loveliness  I 
felt  assured  that  it  was  to  such  as  that  He  referred.  We 
call  it  the  Huleh  lily  because  it  was  here  that  it  was  first 
discovered.  It  is  a  species  of  iris,  but  with  its  botanical 
name,  if  it  have  one,  I  am  unacquainted,  and  I  am  not 
anxious  to  learn  of  any  other  than  that  which  connects 
it  with  this  neighborhood.”  The  distance  from  the  Sea 
of  Galilee  to  Lake  Huleh  is  ten  miles,  and  north  of  the 
lake  for  eight  miles  more  on  either  side  of  the  Jordan 
lies  a  fertile  plain  five  miles  wide. 

Opposite  to  Lake  Huleh  at  its  middle  point  is  a  conical 
hill  called  Tell  Khureibeh ,  or  the  Hill  of  the  Ruin,  which 
some  authorities  believe  to  be  the  ancient  Edrei  (Josh, 
xix  :  37),  but  which  Dr.  Robinson  identifies  with  Hazor . 
A  little  to  the  northwest  of  it  is  Tell  Harah ,  which  Wilson 
believes  to  be  the  true  Hazor,  but  which  Tristram  thinks 
is  Harosheth.  At  Tell  Harah  are  many  cisterns  which 


426 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


escaped  the  ravages  of  the  Crusades,  and  which  show 
that  the  city  which  once  stood  there  must  have  been 
large  and  populous. 

Hazor  was  the  capital  of  Jabin  with  whom  Joshua 
fought  the  last  decisive  battle  of  the  conquest  (Josh,  xi : 
1-15).  The  victory  was  complete,  but  the  conquest  of 
Hazor  was  not  permanent,  since  in  the  time  of  the 
Judges  there  was  another  u  Jabin  King  of  Canaan,  that 
reigned  in  Hazor ;  the  captain  of  whose  host  was  Sisera, 
which  dwelt  in  Harosheth  of  the  Gentiles  ”  (Judg.  iv  :  2). 
We  have  already  sketched  the  great  battle  in  which 
Barak  and  Deborah  destroyed  the  army  of  Jabin  under 
Sisera  in  the  Plain  of  Esdraelon ;  we  may  now  give 
Dean  Stanley’s  account  of  the  victory  of  Joshua  over 
the  earlier  king  of  the  same  name.  u  After  the  capture 
of  Ai  and  the  battle  of  Beth-horon — which  secured  to 
him  the  whole  of  the  south  and  centre  of  Palestine — a 
final  gathering  of  the  Canaanite  races  took  place  in  the 
extreme  north  under  the  king  who  bore  the  hereditary 
title  of  Jabin  (Josh,  xi :  1),  and  the  name  of  whose  city, 
Hazor,  still  lingers  in  the  slopes  of  Hermon,  at  the  head 
of  the  plain.  Round  him  were  assembled  the  heads  of 
all  the  tribes  who  had  not  yet  fallen  under  Joshua’s 
sword.  As  the  British  chiefs  were  driven  to  the  Land’s 
End  before  the  advance  of  the  Saxon,  so  at  this  Land’s 
End  of  Palestine  were  gathered  for  this  last  struggle  not 
only  the  kings  of  the  north  in  the  immediate  neighbor¬ 
hood,  but  from  the  desert  Valley  of  the  Jordan  south  of 
the  Sea  of  Galilee,  from  the  maritime  Plain  of  Philistia, 
from  the  heights  above  Sharon  and  from  the  still  uncon¬ 
quered  Jebus,  to  the  Hivite  who  dwelt  in  the  Valley  of 
Baalbec.  .  .  .  L  under  Hermon  f  all  these  1  went  out, 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CAESAREA  PHILIPPI.  427 


they  and  all  their  hosts  with  them,  even  as  the  sand  is 
upon  the  seashore  in  multitude.  .  .  .  and  when  all  these 
kings  were  met  together,  they  came  and  pitched  together 
at  the  waters  of  Merom  to  fight  against  Israel ’  (Josh,  xi : 
5).  The  new  and  striking  feature  of  this  battle,  as  dis¬ 
tinct  from  those  of  Ai  and  Gibeon,  consisted  in  the 
L  horses  and  chariots  very  many,’  which  now  for  the  first 
time  appear  in  the  Canaanite  warfare,  and  it  was  the 
use  of  these  which  probably  fixed  the  scene  of  the  en¬ 
campment  by  the  lake,  along  whose  level  shores  they 
could  have  full  play  for  their  force.  It  was  this  new 
phase  of  war  which  called  forth  the  special  command  of 
Joshua,  nowhere  else  recorded :  *  Thou  shalt  hough  their 
horses,  and  burn  their  chariots  with  fire.’  Nothing  is 
told  us  of  his  previous  movements.  All  that  we  know 
is  that  on  the  eve  of  the  battle  he  was  within  a  day’s 
march  of  the  lake.  On  the  morrow,  by  a  sudden  de¬ 
scent  like  that  which  had  raised  the  siege  of  Gibeon,  he 
and  all  the  people  of  war  ‘  fell’  (Josh,  xi :  7)  like  a  thun¬ 
derbolt  upon  them  1  in  the  mountain  ’  (Josh,  xi :  7)  slopes 
of  the  plain,  before  they  had  time  to  rally  on  the  level 
ground.  In  the  sudden  panic  c  the  Lord  delivered  them 
into  the  hand  of  Israel,  who  smote  them,  and  chased 
them  ’  westward  over  the  mountains  above  the  gorge  of 
the  Leontes  1  to  Sidon,’  and  eastward  to  the  1  Plain  ’  of 
6  Massoch  ’  or  c  Mizpeh.’  This  route  was  complete,  and 
the  cavalry  and  chariots  which  had  seemed  so  formidable 
were  visited  with  special  destruction.  The  horses  were 
hamstrung  and  the  chariots  burned  with  fire.  And  it  is 
not  till  the  revival  of  the  city  of  Hazor  under  the  second 
Jabin,  long  afterward  (Judg.  iv  :  2),  that  they  once  more 
appear  in  force  against  Israel,  descending,  as  now,  from 


428 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


this  very  plain.  Far  over  the  western  hills  Joshua  pur¬ 
sued  the  flying  host,  before  1  he  turneth  back/  and  ( took 
Hazor/  and  c  burned  it’  to  the  ground  (Josh,  xi :  10,  11). 
The  battle  of  the  Lake  of  Merom  was  to  the  north  what 
the  battle  of  Beth-horon  had  been  to  the  south  j  more 
briefly  told,  less  complete  in  its  consequences,  but  still 
the  decisive  conflict  by  which  the  four  northern  tribes 
were  established  in  the  south  of  Lebanon,  by  which 
Galilee,  with  its  sacred  sea  and  the  manifold  consequences 
therein  involved,  was  included  within  the  limits  of  the 
Holy  Land.” 

A  little  to  the  northwest  of  Tell  Harah  is  Kades ,  the 
ancient  Kedesh-Nap h tali,  the  name  of  which,  the  Holy, 
shows  that  it  must  have  been  a  sanctuary  long  before 
the  conquest.  After  it  was  taken  and  its  king  slain  by 
Joshua  (Josh,  xii  :  22)  it  was  included  in  the  tribe  of 
Naphtali,  and  was  made  a  Levitical  city  and  a  city  of 
refuge  (Josh,  xx  :  7  ;  xxi :  32).  We  know  nothing  of  its 
after  history  except  that  it  was  the  home  of  Barak,  the 
conqueror  of  Sisera  (Judg.  iv :  6—10)  and  that  its  people 
were  carried  captives  to  Assyria  by  Tiglath-pileser  (2 
Kings  xv :  29).  In  the  time  of  the  Crusades  the  tomb 
of  Barak  was  still  shown.  There  are  now  remains  of  a 
very  ancient  character,  most  of  them  however  of  the 
later  Jewish  period,  and  among  them  the  ruins  of  a  large 
and  beautiful  synagogue.  The  eastern  front  and  part  of 
the  walls  are  perfect,  and  the  central  door  is  sculptured 
with  wreaths.  The  horses  of  the  present  village  are 
watered  from  an  ancient  sarcophagus.  Nothing  could 
exceed  the  beauty  of  the  situation  of  Kedesh,  standing 
securely  on  a  knoll  of  the  eastern  slope  of  the  hill,  with  rich 
pastures  behind  and  a  bountiful  spring  bubbling  below. 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CiESAREA  PHILIPPI.  429 


At  Hunin ,  seven  miles  north  of  Kades,  is  a  great 
castle  of  the  Crusaders  which  they  called  Chateau  Neuf  \  or 
Newcastle,  standing  on  the  eastward  edge  of  the  heights 
and  towering  two  thousand  feet  above  the  plain  of  the 
Hasbani,  the  most  northerly  of  the  streams  which  unite 
to  form  the  Jordan.  This  great  castle  measures  740  by 
340  feet,  and  the  citadel  on  the  west  is  surrounded  by  a 
fosse  or  ditch  20  feet  deep  by  40  wide,  cut  out  of  the 
solid  rock.  The  original  wall  of  the  fortress  was  built 
of  large  bevelled  stones  bound  together  with  iron  clamps. 
The  whole  interior  is  a  mass  of  shapeless  ruins  in  which 
Jewish  bevels,  Roman  arches,  Crusading  masonry  and 
Saracenic  remains  are  mournfully  mingled  together,  and 
among  which  are  scattered  the  wretched  hovels  of  the 
present  occupants.  Hunin,  according  to  Dr.  Robinson,  is 
the  ancient  JBeth-rehob7  the  most  northern  point  in  the 
Holy  Land  which  was  reached  by  the  spies  of  Moses 
(Num.  xiii :  21).  In  the  time  of  David  this  place,  like 
others  in  its  neighborhood,  had  become  a  Syrian  de¬ 
pendency,  and  although  the  Syrians  were  defeated  by 
Joab  and  compelled  to  make  peace  with  Israel,  it  appears 
that  they  were  not  entirely  subdued  (2  Sam.  x  :  6,  8, 19). 

Three  miles  north  of  Hunin  is  Abil,  once  called  Abel- 
JBeth-Maachah,  the  Field  of  the  House  of  Oppression, 
also  (2  Chron.  xvi :  4)  called  Abel-Maim ,  where  the  re¬ 
bellion  of  Sheba  against  David  was  suppressed  (2  Sam. 
xx  :  14-22).  As  a  border  town  it  was  exposed  to  attacks 
from  foreign  enemies,  and  was  captured  by  Benhadad, 
King  of  Syria  (1  Kings  xv  :  20).  Its  inhabitants  were 
carried  into  captivity  by  Tiglath-pileser  (2  Kings  xv  : 
29).  Beyond  Abil  a  beautiful  plain  called  Merj  Ayun 
preserves  the  name  of  the  city  of  Ijon ,  which  shared  the 


480 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


fate  of  Abel-Maim  (2  Kings  xv  :  29).  On  a  round  hill 
at  the  upper  end  of  the  plain  are  the  remains  of  a  strong 
city. 

Crossing  the  Hasbani  we  come  to  Tell  el-Kady ,  the 
Hill  of  the  Judge,  that  is  to  say,  Dan ,  since  Dan  signified 
a  judge.  Not  Dan,  however,  but  Laish  was  the  original 
name  of  the  place,  though  it  is  called  Dan  even  in  the 
Book  of  Genesis  (Gen.  xiv  :  14).  It  is  an  extensive 
round-top  mound,  half  a  mile  in  diameter,  rising  eighty 
feet  above  the  plain.  The  surrounding  country  is  ex¬ 
ceedingly  fertile,  yielding  the  finest  wheat  in  Syria.  It 
is  literally  u  a  place  where  there  is  no  lack  of  anything 
that  is  in  the  earth7’  (Judg.  xviii :  10).  On  the  west 
side  of  the  tell  can  be  heard  the  murmuring  of  water,  to 
which  the  explorer  must  force  his  way  through  a  thicket 
of  oleanders.  Beyond,  at  the  bottom  of  a  rocky  slope, 
is  a  wonderful  basin  or  pool  fifty  paces  in  width  and  sur¬ 
rounded  by  heaps  of  blocks  of  basalt.  It  is  the  largest 
spring  in  Syria  and  is  said  to  be  the  largest  in  the  world, 
and  from  it  emerges  one  of  the  streams  which  unite  to 
form  the  Jordan.  From  the  southwest  corner  of  the  tell 
issues  another  stream,  and  the  two  soon  join  together  in 
one  channel,  which  contains  twice  as  much  water  as  the 
stream  from  Banias  and  thrice  as  much  as  the  river  Has¬ 
bani,  and  might  therefore  be  regarded  as  the  true  Jordan. 
By  Josephus  it  was  called  th q  Little  Jordan ;  it  is  now 
called  El-Leddan.  The  full-grown  Jordan  is  formed  by 
the  union  of  these  streams  four  and  a  half  miles  below 
Tell  el-Kady,  where  it  flows  in  a  bed  nearly  a  hundred 
feet  wide,  though  the  river  itself  is  hardly  fifty  feet 
wide. 

The  city  of  Laish  was  inhabited  by  a  peaceable  com- 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CAESAREA  PHILIPPI.  431 


munity  of  Phenicians,  belonging  to  the  confederacy  of 
which  Sidon  was  the  head.  Though  they  were  far  re¬ 
moved  from  their  compatriots,  they  lived  in  quiet  and 
security,  expecting  no  hostile  assault,  minding  their  own 
affairs  and  not  meddling  with  their  neighbors.  For  some 
reason  the  tribe  of  Dan  had  received  only  a  small  inherit¬ 
ance  in  Israel,  and  sent  spies  to  look  for  some  part  of  the 
land  which  they  might  conquer  and  colonize.  At  Laish, 
on  the  extreme  northern  border,  they  found  a  place  which 
they  might  well  covet,  and  a  people  whom  they  might 
easily  subdue.  To  Laish  therefore  a  party  of  Danites 
went.  It  was  in  that  period  of  the  history  of  Israel 
when  there  was  no  king,  and  every  man  did  that  which 
was  right  in  his  own  eyes.  As  the  Danites  passed 
through  the  mountains  of  Ephraim  they  assured  them¬ 
selves  of  victory  by  stealing  from  Micah  the  graven 
image  of  silver  with  which  he  had  thought  to  conciliate 
the  favor  of  God,  and  they  also  carried  off  the  Levite 
whom  he  had  hired  to  act  as  a  priest  in  his  household. 
So  they  u  came  unto  Laish,  unto  a  people  that  were  at 
quiet  and  secure  :  and  they  smote  them  with  the  edge 
of  the  sword,  and  burnt  the  city  with  fire.  And  there  was 
no  deliverer,  because  it  was  far  from  Zidon,  and  they  had 
no  business  with  any  man ;  and  it  was  in  the  valley  that 
lieth  by  Beth-rehob.  And  they  built  a  city,  and  dwelt 
therein ;  and  they  called  the  name  of  the  city  Dan,  after 
the  name  of  Dan  their  father,  who  was  born  unto  Israel : 
howbeit  the  name  of  the  city  was  Laish  at  the  first  v  (Judg. 
xviii :  27-29).  Even  the  Hebrew  historian  seems  to  have 
pitied  the  peaceable  and  helpless  Sidonians  who  became 
the  victims  of  these  Danite  ruffians  ;  and  there  was  little 
reason  for  Israel  to  rejoice  in  the  conquest  of  Laish, 


432 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


for  the  Danites  immediately  set  up  the  graven  image 
they  had  stolen  from  Micah,  and  the  new  city  of  Dan 
was  ever  afterward  a  sanctuary  of  idolatry.  It  was 
the  northernmost  city  of  Israel,  and  the  phrase  u  from 
Dan  even  unto  Beersheba  v  soon  became  proverbial.  But 
that  phrase  indicated  only  extent,  not  unity,  since  the 
idolatry  maintained  at  Dan  was  a  symbol  of  present  dis¬ 
cord  and  a  prophecy  of  future  retribution  (Judg.  xviii). 
All  the  time  that  the  tabernacle  of  Jehovah  was  kept  at 
Shiloh  the  idolatry  of  Dan  was  continued.  Under  King 
Jeroboam  it  was  established  in  yet  greater  splendor,  so 
that  Dan  and  Bethel  were  the  two  chief  sanctuaries  of 
the  northern  kingdom  (1  Kings  xii :  25-31).  Bethel  was 
cleansed  of  its  pollutions  by  King  Josiah  (2  Kings  xxiii : 
15),  but  a  hundred  years  before  that  pious  reformation 
the  children  of  Dan  had  been  removed  from  their  de¬ 
lightful  home  and  transported  to  Assyria  and  Media  (2 
Kings  xvii  :  6). 

From  Dan  to  Caesarea  the  distance  is  only  five  miles, 
and  the  road  rises  upward  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  most 
majestic  mountain  of  Syria,  Mount  Hermon.  Though 
that  famous  mountain  was  not  strictly  speaking  within 
the  borders  of  the  Promised  Land,  it  would  be  difficult 
not  to  consider  it  as  belonging  to  Palestine.  From  nearly 
every  part  of  Palestine  its  snow-capped  crest  is  to  be 
seen.  When  Moses  took  his  long  look  at  the  land  he  was 
not  suffered  to  enter,  he  saw  Hermon  grandly  marking 
its  northern  border.  From  the  mountains  of  Gilead,  and 
Bashan,  and  Hebron,  and  Ephraim,  and  Nazareth,  and 
from  many  a  plain  between, — from  Sharon  and  Philistia, 
nay,  even  from  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea,  the  crest  of 
Hermon  bounds  the  view.  Its  name  of  Hermon  signi- 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CAESAREA  PHILIPPI.  433 


iies  The  Lofty ,  and  its  other  Hebrew  name  of  Sion  has 
the  same  signification.  By  the  modern  Arabs  it  is  known 
as  Jebel  esh-Sheilch  and  Jebel  eth-Thelj ,  the  Chief  Moun¬ 
tain  and  the  Snowy  Mountain.  The  height  of  Hermon 
has  not  been  accurately  measured,  but  it  is  not  more  than 
10,000  feet  above  sea-level,  and  is  therefore  out-topped 
by  some  of  the  peaks  of  Lebanon.  Yet  so  isolated  is  it 
and  so  grand  in  its  majestic  solitude  that  it  surpasses 
every  other  mountain  of  Syria. 

In  ages  of  remote  antiquity  Hermon  was  undoubtedly 
a  sanctuary  as  famous  and  revered  as  Jerusalem  and 
Mecca  now  are  by  men  of  later  faiths.  In  the  name  Baal- 
Hermon  (1  Chron.  v  :  23)  we  have  a  remnant  of  the 
former  religion  of  that  sanctuary,  and  every  one  of  the 
known  temples  of  Baal  which  still  exist  is  built  to  face 
toward  Hermon.  Long  ages  later  Hermon  became  the 
sanctuary  of  a  more  graceful  cult ;  for  in  one  of  its  grot¬ 
toes  was  established  that  worship  of  Pan  from  which  the 
city  near  by  took  its  name  of  Paneas.  Some  recollection 
of  its  ancient  sanctity  may  have  strengthened  the  better 
reason  which  led  St.  Peter  to  call  Hermon  u  The  Holy 
Mountain  ”  (2  Pet.  i :  18). 

Standing  at  the  very  head  of  the  deep-sunk  Jordan 
Ghor,  Hermon  draws  to  itself  and  quickly  condenses  in 
its  cold  clear  atmosphere  the  vapors  rising  from  the 
tropic  depth  of  the  low-lying  river  ;  and  “  the  dews  of 
Hermon  n  (Psalms  cxxxiii :  3),  which  to  the  Israelites 
were  a  proverbial  symbol  of  gracious  influences,  clothe 
the  lower  slopes  of  the  mountain  with  rich  and  almost 
perennial  pastures.  The  vine  thrives  ;  above  the  region 
of  the  cultivated  grounds  the  almond  flourishes  abun¬ 
dantly  )  and  higher  still  there  is  a  belt  of  fruit  trees  grow- 

28 


434 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


ing  absolutely  wild.  Still  higher  are  conifers  and  prickly 
shrubs  belonging  to  the  flora  of  the  oriental  steppes,  and 
above  all  lies  the  belt  of  snow  which  even  in  summer 
does  not  wholly  disappear.  In  the  wilder  parts  of  Her- 
mon  foxes,  wolves,  and  many  sorts  of  game  are  to  be 
found,  and  among  them  the  peculiar  species  of  brown  bear 
which  is  known  to  naturalists  as  Ursus  Syriacus. 

The  form  of  Hermon  is  that  of  a  truncated  cone,  but 
it  has  really  three  summits,  situated  like  the  angles  of  a 
triangle,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  each  other. 
This  may  be  the  reason  why  the  Hebrew  Psalmist  speaks 
of  the  Hermons ,  or  Hermonites,  as  the  word  is  improp¬ 
erly  rendered  in  the  Authorized  Version  (Psalms  xlii :  6). 
Except  when  covered  with  snow,  the  cone  is  entirely 
naked,  and  a  coat  of  decomposed  limestone  makes  the 
surface  smooth  and  bleak.  u  As  summer  advances  the 
snow  gradually  melts  from  the  tops  of  the  ridges,  but  re¬ 
mains  in  long  glittering  streaks  in  the  ravines  that 
radiate  from  the  centre,  looking  in  the  distance  like  the 
white  locks  that  scantily  cover  the  head  of  old  age.” 
Canon  Tristram  gives  the  following  sketch  of  the  view 
from  the  summit  of  Hermon.  u  We  were  at  last  on  Her¬ 
mon,  whose  snowy  head  had  been  a  sort  of  pole-star  for 
the  last  six  months.  We  had  looked  at  him  from  Sidon, 
from  Tyre,  from  Carmel,  from  Gerizim,  from  the  hills 
about  Jerusalem,  from  the  Dead  Sea,  from  Gilead  and 
from  Nebo  j  and  now  we  were  looking  down  on  them  all 
as  they  stood  out  from  the  embossed  map  that  lay  spread 
at  our  feet.  The  only  drawback  was  a  light  fleecy  cloud 
which  stretched  from  CarmePs  top  all  along  the  Lebanon 
till  it  rested  upon  Jebel  Sunnin ,  close  to  Baal-bec.  But 
it  lifted  sufficiently  to  give  us  a  peep  of  the  Mediterra- 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CiESAREA  PHILIPPI.  435 


nean  in  three  places,  and  amongst  them  of  Tyre.  There 
was  a  haze  too  over  the  Gohr,  so  that  we  could  only 
see  as  far  as  Jebel  Ajlun  and  Gilead ;  but  Lakes  Huleh 
and  Gennesaret,  sunk  in  the  depths  beneath  us  and  re¬ 
flecting  the  sunlight,  were  magnificent.  We  could 
scarcely  realize  that  at  one  glance  we  were  taking  in  the 
whole  of  the  land  through  which  for  more  than  six 
months  we  had  been  incessantly  wandering.  Not  less 
striking  were  the  views  to  the  north  and  east,  with  the 
head-waters  of  the  Aivaj  (Pharpar)  rising  beneath  us  and 
the  JBarada  (Abana)  in  the  far  distance,  both  rivers 
marking  the  courses  of  their  fertilizing  streams  by  the 
deep  green  lines  of  verdure,  till  the  eye  rested  on  the 
brightness  of  Damascus,  and  then  turned  up  the  wide 
opening  of  Coele-Syria  until  shut  in  by  Lebanon. 

u  A  ruined  temple  of  Baal,  constructed  of  squared 
stones  arranged  nearly  in  a  circle,  crowns  the  highest  of 
the  three  peaks  of  Hermon,  all  very  close  together.  We 
spent  a  great  part  of  the  day  on  the  summit,  but  were 
before  long  painfully  affected  by  the  rarity  of  the  atmos¬ 
phere.  The  sun  had  sunk  behind  Lebanon  before  we 
descended  to  our  tents,  but  long  after  we  had  lost  him  he 
continued  to  paint  and  gild  Hermon  with  a  beautiful 
mingling  of  Alpine  and  desert  hues.’7 

The  situation  of  Banias ,  the  ancient  Ccesarea  Philippi , 
is  superb  beyond  description.  The  approach  to  it  from 
Tell  el-Kady  is  through  park  like  scenery  diversified 
with  wooded  hills  and  fertile  valleys  through  which  count¬ 
less  streamlets  wind  along  or  dash  down  natural  cascades 
in  the  midst  of  thickets  and  overhanging  vines,  while 
ever  before  towers  the  gigantic  form  of  Mount  Hermon. 
The  situation  of  the  Grecian  city  of  Herod  Philip  to 


486 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


which  our  Lord  went,  hut  which  had  never  been  a  city 
of  Israel,  is  very  admirably  described  by  Dr.  Geikie, 
who  says,  aA  town,  Baal-Gad — named  from  the  Canaan- 
ite  god  of  fortune — had  occupied  the  site  from  immemorial 
antiquity  j  but  Philip  had  rebuilt  it  splendidly  three  years 
before  Christ’s  birth,  and  in  accordance  with  the  pre¬ 
vailing  flattery  of  the  emperor  had  called  it  Csesarea  in 
honor  of  Augustus.  It  had  been  the  pleasure  of  his 
peaceful  reign  to  adorn  it  with  altars,  votive  images  and 
statues,  and  his  own  name  had  been  added  by  the  people 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  Csesarea  on  the  sea-coast.  It 
was  one  of  the  loveliest  spots  in  the  Holy  Land,  built  on 
a  terrace  of  rock,  part  of  the  range  of  Hermon  which 
rose  behind  it  seven  or  eight  thousand  feet.  Countless 
streams  murmured  down  the  slopes  amidst  a  unique  rich¬ 
ness  and  variety  of  flower  and  shrub  and  tree.  The 
chief  source  of  the  Jordan  still  bursts  in  a  full  silver- 
clear  stream  from  a  bottomless  depth  of  water  in  the  old 
cave  of  Pan  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  from  beneath 
a  high  perpendicular  wall  of  rock  adorned  with  niches 
once  filled  with  marble  Naiads  of  the  stream  and  Satyrs 
of  the  woods  and  with  countless  votive  tablets,  but  now 
strewn  round  with  the  ruins  of  the  shepherd  god’s  ancient 
temple.  Thick  woods  still  shade  the  channel  of  the 
young  river.  Oaks  and  olive  groves  alternate  with  pas¬ 
tures  and  fields  of  grain,  and  high  over  all  rises  the  old 
castle  of  Banias,  perhaps  the  c  Tower  of  Lebanon  that 
looked  toward  Damascus  ’  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  ” 
(vii :  4). 

“  But  the  centre  of  attraction,”  says  Dean  Stanley,  u  is 
the  higher  source  of  the  Jordan.  Underneath  the  high 
red  limestone  cliff  which  overhangs  the  town  it  bursts 


FKOM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CiESAEEA  PHILIPPI.  437 


out,  not  as  in  the  lower  or  westernmost  source  in  a  full 
spring  but  in  many  rivulets,  which  issuing  from  the  foot 
of  the  rock  first  form  a  large  basin  and  then  collect  into 
a  rushing  stream.  It  penetrates  through  the  thickets  on 
the  hill  side,  and  in  the  vale  below  at  some  point  which 
has  never  been  exactly  verified  joins  the  stream  from 
Dan.  In  the  face  of  the  rock  immediately  above  the 
spring  is  the  large  grotto  which  furnished  a  natural 
sanctuary,  not  indeed  to  the  Israelites,  who  perhaps 
never  penetrated  so  far,  but  to  the  Greeks  of  the  Mace¬ 
donian  kingdom  of  Antioch.  The  cavern-sanctuary  of 
Caesarea  was  at  once  adopted  by  the  Grecian  settlers, 
both  in  itself  and  for  its  romantic  situation,  the  nearest 
likeness  that  Syria  affords  of  the  beautiful  limestone 
grottoes  which  in  their  own  country  were  inseparably 
associated  with  the  worship  of  the  sylvan  Pan.  This 
was  the  one  Paneum  or  *  sanctuary  of  Pan  ?  within  the 
limits  of  Palestine  which  before  the  building  of  Philip’s 
city  gave  to  the  town  the  name  of  Paneas ,  a  name  which 
has  outlived  the  Roman  substitute  and  still  appears  in 
the  modern  appellation  of  JBaniasP 

Eleven  hundred  feet  above  sea-level  and  still  nine 
thousand  feet  below  the  summit  of  Mount  Hermon  lay 
the  ancient  Caesarea,  naturally  protected  on  three  sides 
by  the  river  and  a  deep  valley.  The  remaining  side  was 
strongly  fortified  with  three  round  towers  which  still  re¬ 
main,  and  an  immense  fosse  which  could  be  flooded  when 
necessary.  The  bridge  was  defended  by  a  large  square 
tower,  through  the  town  ran  an  ample  aqueduct,  and 
magnificent  granite  columns  which  are  still  found  lying 
on  the  ground  show  what  manner  of  buildings  adorned 
the  streets  of  Caesarea.  In  the  centre  of  the  south  side 


438 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


of  the  castle  is  an  ancient  portal  on  which  an  Arabic  in¬ 
scription  has  been  carved  and  from  which  a  stone  bridge 
crosses  the  wady. 

Something  over  two  miles  from  Banias  is  the  vast  for¬ 
tress  of  Subeibeh ,  2000  feet  long  by  300  wide,  the  huge 
walls  of  which  are  still  in  some  places  100  feet  high. 
From  the  north,  the  south  and  the  west  this  fortification 
is  almost  inaccessible,  and  on  the  remaining  side  it  is  so 
defended  as  to  have  been  called  the  Gibraltar  of  Pales¬ 
tine.  Situated  at  the  base  of  Mount  Hermon,  it  com¬ 
mands  the  passage  to  and  from  the  countries  lying  east 
of  Syria  which  was  used  by  Chedorlaomer  2000  years 
before  the  birth  of  Christ.  On  the  road  leading  to  Tyre 
Assyrian  sculptures  have  been  found  which  prove  that 
this  was  the  route  taken  by  the  great  armies  of  Assyria 
in  invading  Palestine  and  Tyre,  and  the  Phenicians 
would  be  almost  under  the  necessity  of  fortifying  this 
pass  for  their  own  defence.  At  the  eastern  end  of  the 
castle  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  it  stands 
the  citadel  with  a  wall  and  a  moat  of  its  own  j  so  that, 
as  Josephus  says,  the  garrison  could  retire  into  the  citadel 
and  make  a  protracted  defence  even  after  the  main 
castle  had  been  taken  by  an  enemy.  In  the  time  of  the 
Crusades  the  castle  of  Subeibeh  naturally  played  an  im¬ 
portant  part,  but  its  history  is  too  long  to  be  told  here. 

It  was  somewhere  in  the  course  of  this  interesting 
journey,  and  probably  in  the  vicinity  of  Csesarea  Philippi, 
that  our  Lord  asked  his  disciples  to  tell  him  how  Pie  was 
regarded  by  the  common  people.  The  ideas  of  the  peo¬ 
ple  concerning  him  were  all  abroad.  Some  of  them  sup¬ 
posed  him  to  be  John  the  Baptist  f  some  thought  He  was 
Elijah ;  some  imagined  He  must  be  the  sad  Prophet 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  OESAREA  PHILIPPI.  439 


Jeremiah;  the  general  opinion  of  those  who  believed  in 
him  at  all  was  that  He  was  one  of  the  old  prophets  who 
had  risen  from  the  dead.  Then  Jesus  asked  the  disciples 
whom  they  supposed  him  to  be,  and  in  the  name  of  all 
of  them  Peter  answered,  u  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son 
of  the  living  God  !’7  If  this  sublime  confession,  the  cor¬ 
ner-stone  of  the  Christian  faith,  was  pronounced  in  the 
vicinity  of  Caesarea  Philippi,  then  the  rocky  slopes  of 
Hermon  would  afford  a  thousand  ready  illustrations  of  its 
mighty  significance.  u  Thou  art  Peter/7  said  the  Master, 
that  is,  a  living  stone  (Petros)  u  of  the  living  Temple  I 
am  rearing ;  but  on  this  rock  ( petra ),  this  immovable 
truth  which  flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  unto  thee, 
I  will  build  My  Church ;  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not 
prevail  against  it.77  In  the  lofty  glades  of  the  majestic 
Hermon  were  a  thousand  places  where  eternal  rocks  and 
snow-strewn  stones  would  fitly  symbolize  the  firm  founda¬ 
tion  of  the  faith  and  the  “  lively  stones 77  of  which  the 
Church  of  Christ  is  builded  (Matt,  xvi :  13—18 ;  Mark 
viii :  27—29  ;  Luke  ix  :  18-20). 

It  was  six  days  later  that  Jesus  took  with  him  Peter 
and  James  and  John,  and  ascended  “  an  high  moun¬ 
tain,77  which  must  surely  have  been  Hermon,  and  was 
transfigured  before  them  (Matt,  xvii :  1-9  ;  Mark  ix : 
2-8 ;  Luke  ix :  28-36).  It  was  a  fit  spot  for  our  Sa¬ 
viour  to  take  a  long  look  over  the  many  scenes  of  his 
earthly  pilgrimage.  Before  him  lay  the  Holy  Land 
spread  out  like  a  map.  Not  far  off  were  the  hills  of 
Nazareth  where  his  infant  years  were  spent.  Stretching 
from  north  to  south  was  the  deep  Glior  of  the  Jordan,  on 
whose  banks  He  had  so  often  journeyed  on  his  frequent 
expeditions  to  the  Holy  City.  Near  the  Dead  Sea, 


440 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


which  was  clearly  visible,  was  the  place  where  John  had 
baptized  him,  and  a  little  east  of  it  the  gloomy  Mountain 
of  Temptation.  Wherever  He  gazed  some  natural  object 
would  remind  him  of  the  countless  works  and  words  He 
had  done  and  spoken  in  proclaiming  and  exhibiting  his 
gospel.  Beyond  the  mountains  of  Gilead  on  the  east  and 
the  Midland  Sea  on  the  west,  beyond  the  hills  of  Hebron 
on  the  south  and  the  mighty  ranges  of  Lebanon  on  the 
north,  the  good  news  of  that  gospel  and  its  healing  influ¬ 
ences  were  yet  to  be  borne  to  far-off  lands  by  the  poor 
fishermen  whom  He  had  taught  and  trained  for  that 
tremendous  work  of  winning  a  world  to  God.  Before 
they  could  set  out  on  that  marvellous  work,  He  was  to 
be  taken  from  them ;  and  the  time  was  now,  it  was  nigh 
at  hand.  When  He  descended  from  that  mountain  it 
would  be  to  set  his  face  toward  Jerusalem,  there  to  be 
offered  up.  Two  mountains  must  have  been  conspicu¬ 
ously  present  to  his  thoughts — as  they  were  conspicuous 
to  his  vision — Pisgah,  the  silent  and  mysterious  resting- 
place  of  Moses,  the  Prophet  of  Law  5  and  Carmel,  the 
triumphant  scene  of  the  victory  of  Elijah,  the  Prophet  of 
Vengeance.  God’s  law  is  love  unrecognized;  the  ven¬ 
geance  of  God  is  only  love  disguised  ;  but  the  character 
of  both  must  be  revealed  by  the  Prophet  of  Reconciliation. 
On  u  a  green  hill  far  away,”  a  mere  knoll  of  the  moun¬ 
tains  of  Jerusalem,  He  was  to  read  the  riddle  making 
all  things  plain,  and  then  from  the  summit  of  the  Mount 
of  Olives  He  was  to  ascend  to  other  scenes  of  which  the 
poet  can  but  dream,  and  even  the  prophet  can  but  babble. 
As  he  gazed  and  meditated  on  the  past,  the  present  and 
the  wondrous  future,  “  the  Life  ”  that  is  “  the  Light  of 
Men  ”  illuminated  his  whole  being.  The  inner  nature  of 


FROM  DECAPOLIS  TO  CiESAREA  PHILIPPI.  441 


the  Christ  sent  an  ethereal  radiance  gleaming  through 
his  mortal  frame  and  glistening  through  the  very  gar¬ 
ments  which  He  wore.  While  He  had  been  gazing  and 
praying  night  had  fallen,  and  the  drowsy  followers  He 
had  brought  with  him  were  fast  asleep.  It  was  ever  so 
in  the  great  crises  of  his  life.  His  most  solemn  hours 
were  spent  66  apart,  by  himself,  alone.7’  On  Hermon, 
as  a  few  days  later  in  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  the 
same  three  slept  and  left  him  utterly  alone.  Yet  He  was 
not  alone;  the  Father  was  with  him;  and  two  grand 
figures  came  and  stood  beside  him  to  partake  in  these  his 
last  meditations.  Well  does  John  Ituskin  speak  of  those 
three  who  were  there  together.  u  When,  in  the  desert, 
He  was  girding  himself  for  the  work  of  life,  angels  of  life 
came  and  ministered  unto  him ;  now,  in  the  fair  world, 
when  He  is  girding  himself  for  the  work  of  death,  the 
ministrants  come  to  him  from  the  grave — but  from  the 
grave  conquered — one  from  that  tomb  under  Abarim, 
which  his  own  hand  had  sealed  long  ago ;  the  other  from 
the  rest  into  which  He  had  entered  without  seeing  cor¬ 
ruption.”  It  was  of  his  death  that  Moses  and  Elias 
spake  at  that  time  to  Jesus,  for  his  death  was  imminent. 
It  behooved  him  first  to  suffer,  and  afterward  to  enter 
into  glory  ;  and  perhaps  to  strengthen  him  for  his  u  un¬ 
known  sufferings,”  as  the  Greeks  beautifully  say,  a  fore¬ 
taste  of  the  coming  glory  was  vouchsafed  him  in  his 
transfiguration  on  Mount  Hermon. 

For  the  weak  disciples  too  whose  faith  was  soon  to 
be  so  sorely  tried,  some  token  of  his  glory  was  perhaps 
required  to  make  their  restoration  to  entire  faith  possible 
when  they  should  have  seen  the  tragedy  of  Golgotha. 
They  started  out  of  sleep,  and  for  a  moment  saw  the 


442 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


glory  of  their  Master.  Somehow  they  knew  the  mighty 
men  of  old  who  stood  with  him  and  talked  with  him,  and 
then  the  splendid  vision  faded  from  their  sight.  No  man 
was  with  them  save  Jesus  only;  Jesus,  no  more  gleam¬ 
ing  with  the  light  of  heaven ;  only  the  Man  of  Sorrows, 
who  was  soon  to  bear  his  Cross  along  the  Via  Dolorosa. 
Poor  blundering  Peter  wist  not  what  to  say,  and  yet  he 
spoke.  He  would  fain  tarry  where  he  was,  high  on  the 
slopes  of  Hermon.  He  would  fain  build  tabernacles  for 
his  Master  and  the  Prophets.  But  it  was  not  to  be  so. 
For  the  Son  of  Man  the  time  of  tabernacles  was  nearly 
gone.  It  was  but  a  step  now  to  the  place  of  many  man¬ 
sions  which  abide  forever.  Therefore  from  the  steeps 
of  Hermon  and  the  momentary  joy  of  his  transfiguration 
Jesus  turned  himself  and  set  his  face  steadfastly  to  go 
unto  Jerusalem,  there  to  do  and  suffer  all  that  the 
prophets  had  told  aforetime  concerning  him.  From  Her¬ 
mon  to  Golgotha !  From  Golgotha  to  Olivet !  From 
Olivet  to  the  New  Jerusalem,  the  One  Eternal  City  of 
the  Great  King ! 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 

In  taking  the  most  rapid  possible  survey  of  modern 
Jerusalem  we  shall  find  things  new  and  old  strangely 
mingled  together.  Side  by  side  or  in  immediate  contact 
are  monuments  of  the  time  of  Solomon,  remains  of  Roman 
architecture,  ruins  of  the  Crusading  period,  and  buildings 
erected  within  the  present  generation.  Near  the  wall 
of  the  ancient  Temple  area  Jewish  lamentations  are  still 
heard  bewailing  the  desolation  of  Zion.  On  Mount  Mo¬ 
riah,  perhaps  on  the  very  site  of  Herod’s  Temple,  stands 
the  Mosque  of  Omar,  with  its  glorious  dome  surmounted 
by  the  crescent  symbol  of  Islam.  In  various  parts  are 
churches,  convents,  schools  and  hospitals  of  Christian 
sects — Greek,  Roman,  Coptic,  Anglican,  Armenian  and 
Abyssinian,  which  have  no  dealings  with  each  other,  not¬ 
withstanding  the  six  times  repeated  prayer  of  their  One 
Master  that  they  might  u  all  be  one  !”  In  all  directions  may 
be  seen  the  flags  of  distant  nations,  pilgrims  from  many 
lands  throng  to  the  sacred  places,  and  the  tongues  of  many 
peoples  may  be  heard  in  every  street,  for  now  more  than  in 
any  former  age  Jerusalem  is  El  Klmds ,  the  Holy  City. 

The  student  will  find  it  useful  and  interesting  to  ac¬ 
quaint  himself  with  the  surroundings  of  Jerusalem  before 
entering  within  the  walls,  and  for  that  purpose  we  shall 

offer  our  guidance  in  four  short  excursions,  as  follows : 

(  443 ) 


444 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


I.  From  the  Upper  Pool  of  Gihon,  through  the  Valley 
of  Gihon  and  the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  to  Job’s  Well. 

II.  From  the  Jaffa  Gate  to  the  Tombs  of  the  Judges, 
the  Tombs  of  the  Kings,  and  the  Grotto  of  Jeremiah. 

III.  Down  the  Kedron  Valley  to  Job’s  Well. 

IV.  Around  the  Walls. 


I.  From  the  Upper  Pool  of  Gihon  to  Job’s  Well. 

The  traveller  who  approaches  Jerusalem  by  the  road 
from  Jaffa  passes  through  a  cluster  of  watch-towers  about 
a  mile  from  the  northwestern  angle  of  the  city,  and  then 
on  his  left  is  the  English  Mission  House.  A  little  further 
on,  still  on  his  left,  is  the  Austrian  Consulate,  and  on  his 
right  is  Talitha  Kami ,  an  orphanage  where  a  hundred 
Arab  girls  are  educated  by  seven  Westphalian  Deacon¬ 
esses  under  the  direction  of  their  Superior.  Skirting  the 
road  on  its  left  or  northern  side,  and  beautifully  situated 
on  a  rising  ground,  he  will  next  pass  the  extensive  build¬ 
ings  belonging  to  the  Russian  Government,  and  consist¬ 
ing  of  two  immense  hospices  for  male  pilgrims,  a  third 
hospice  for  women,  a  noble  church,  a  well-appointed  hos¬ 
pital  and  the  consulate.  On  the  other  side  of  the  road, 
at  a  distance  of  three  or  four  hundred  yards,  is  the  Upper 
Pool  of  Gihon,  which  has  already  been  described  (p. 
253).  Two  hundred  yards  south  of  the  pool  is  a  leper 
hospital,  but  not  far  from  the  Jaffa  Gate  another  hospital 
for  lepers  exists  within  the  walls,  and  will  be  mentioned 
hereafter. 

Two  hundred  yards  east  of  the  pool  we  enter  the  Val¬ 
ley  of  Gihon,  or  more  properly  the  northwestern  part  of 
the  Valley  of  Hinnom.  Turning  south  we  pass  the  Jaffa 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


445 


Gate  and  the  citadel  on  the  left,  and  go  straight  on  to  the 
southwestern  angle  of  the  city  wall,  within  which  is  the 
spacious  garden  of  the  Armenian  monastery.  In  the 
valley  directly  opposite  to  that  angle  is  the  upper  end  of 
the  Lower  Pool  of  Gihon  (p.  255),  and  on  the  other  side 
of  the  valley,  southwest  of  the  pool,  is  Sir  Moses  Mon- 
tefiore’s  Jewish  Hospice,  or  Poor-House  for  indigent 
Jews. 

Here  the  valley  makes  a  sweeping  circuit  to  the  east, 
round  the  foot  of  Mount  Zion,  and  we  are  now  in  the 
Ge  Sene  Hinnom ,  the  Valley  of  the  Children  of  Groan¬ 
ing,  also  called  Tophet,  where  young  children  were  once 
sacrificed  to  Moloch  (2  Kings  xxiii :  10),  and  Jewish 
kings  surrendered  their  own  offspring  to  he  offered  as 
victims  to  that  bloody  god.  So  utterly  detestable  did 
that  place  become  in  the  estimation  of  the  Jews  that 
Gehenna ,  which  is  a  contraction  of  its  Hebrew  name, 
came  in  New  Testament  times  to  signify  a  place  of  tor¬ 
ment. 

North  of  this  valley  of  infamy  is  a  large  part  of  Mount 
Zion  which  is  not  now  enclosed  within  the  city  wall,  and 
on  its  summit,  surrounded  by  the  burying-places  of 
Latins,  Greeks,  Armenians,  Jews,  English  and  Ameri¬ 
cans,  is  Neby  Daud ,  the  Tomb  of  the  Prophet  David, 
which  is  also  called  Coenaculum ,  or  the  Chamber  of  the 
Last  Supper.  It  is  a  collection  of  buildings,  almost  a 
village,  in  which  many  traditions  are  singularly  mingled. 
That  the  Tomb  of  David  may  have  been  here  is  entirely 
possible  j  that  the  Last  Supper  may  have  been  celebrated 
near  the  same  spot  is  not  unlikely  5  that  the  gift  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  on  the  Day  of  Pentecost  may  have  been  re¬ 
ceived  in  the  same  chamber  in  which  the  Eucharist  was 


446 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


instituted  may  be  regarded  as  probable  ;  whether  the 
Blessed  Virgin  died  there  or  not  nobody  can  possibly 
know  5  but  that  the  precise  spot  of  each  and  all  of  these 
different  facts  or  events  should  now  be  ascertainable  is 
simply  absurd.  Yet  the  Chamber  of  the  Last  Supper  is 
exhibited,  and  in  a  lower  room  the  place  where  the 
Lord’s  Table  stood  is  shown  to  the  visitor.  In  a  side 
room  adjacent  to  the  latter  is  a  modern  coffin  which  rep¬ 
resents  the  sarcophagus  of  David,  and  is  said  to  be  a 
copy  of  the  genuine  coffin  which  is  alleged  still  to  exist 
in  a  subterranean  vault,  and  in  honor  of  which  the  Mos¬ 
lem  mosque  was  erected.  In  the  time  of  the  Crusaders 
a  two-storied  church  stood  here,  with  three  apses  in  the 
lower  story.  In  one  of  them  was  an  altar  commemorative 
of  the  washing  of  the  Apostles’  feet  by  our  Saviour,  which 
was  alleged  to  have  occurred  on  that  very  spot 5  the  second 
had  an  altar  on  the  spot  where  He  appeared  to  them  on 
the  evening  of  the  first  Easter  day  5  the  altar  of  the  third 
marked  the  spot  where  the  Blessed  Virgin  died  5  and  in 
the  upper  story  was  the  scene  of  the  Last  Supper  and 
of  the  giving  of  the  Holy  Ghost !  Not  even  stupid  super¬ 
stition  avails  utterly  to  destroy  the  spirit  of  Christianity, 
for  beside  the  Church  of  the  Coenaculum  was  a  monas¬ 
tery  with  a  vast  hospital  for  the  solace  and  entertainment 
of  pilgrims.  To  this  day  the  Superior  of  the  Francis¬ 
cans  is  called  the  u  Guardian  of  Mount  Zion but  the 
Moslems  long  ago  took  possession  of  Neby  Daud,  and  the 
Christian  visitor  must  now  pay  a  few  piastres  to  the  Mos¬ 
lem  guard  for  the  privilege  of  seeing  the  supposed  Coe¬ 
naculum  and  the  Tomb  of  David. 

North  of  Neby  Daud  and  near  the  Gate  of  David  in 
the  southern  wall  of  the  city  is  the  traditional  House  of 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


447 


Caiaphas.  Within  the  same  gate,  and  about  a  hundred 
yards  north  of  it,  is  the  traditional  House  of  Annas 
(John  xviii :  13,  24). 

On  the  south  of  the  Valley  of  Hinnom  rises  the  Hill 
of  Evil  Counsel,  so  called  because  of  a  tradition  that  it 
was  in  a  villa  belonging  to  Caiaphas  on  that  hill  that  the 
chief  priests  and  elders  of  Israel  took  counsel  together 
against  Jesus  to  put  him  to  death  (John  xi :  53).  In  its 
steep  sides  many  tombs  have  been  excavated,  some  of 
which  seem  originally  to  have  been  closed  by  gates  hung 
on  sockets  of  stone $  and  toward  the  eastern  end  of  the 
Valley  is  Aceldama,  the  Field  of  Blood,  the  potter’s  field 
for  the  burial  of  strangers,  bought  with  the  price  paid 
for  the  betrayal  of  Jesus.  u  An  old  ruin  thirty  feet  long 
and  twenty  wide,  with  one  side  of  naked  rock  and  the 
other  of  drafted  stone,  forms  a  flat-roofed  cover  to  a  dis¬ 
mal  house  of  the  dead.  Two  caverns  beneath  the  floor, 
having  their  rocky  sides  pierced  with  loculi  for  corpses, 
are  connected  with  galleries  of  tombs  which  extend 
from  the  bottom  of  the  hill.  There  are  holes  in  the  roof 
of  the  ruin  through  which  the  bodies  were  let  down  by 
ropes,  and  there  are  marks  of  steps  by  which  the  tombs 
were  entered.”  Clay  from  the  potter’s  field  is  still  used 
by  the  potters  of  Jerusalem. 

As  the  valley  goes  eastward  it  becomes  very  narrow, 
steep  rocks  forming  its  wall  on  the  southern  side,  while 
on  the  upper  side  Mount  Zion  descends  in  steps  like  ter¬ 
races,  but  very  abruptly.  Olive  and  almond  trees  cast 
their  soft  shadows  over  the  rising  green  of  the  little 
stony  fields  in  the  hollow  and  on  the  rocky  sides  of  the 
ravine.  The  whole  scene  is  beautiful  in  its  quiet  repose ; 
yet  it  was  in  this  narrow  valley,  now  filled  with  budding 


448 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


fruit-trees  and  springing  grain  and  sweet  flowers,  that 
the  Israelites  once  offered  their  children  to  Moloch,  and 
these  very  rocks  have  echoed  the  screams  of  innocent 
victims  and  reverberated  with  the  chants  and  drums  of 
the  priests,  raised  to  drown  the  cries  of  agony.  About 
a  hundred  yards  below  Aceldama  the  Hinnom  Valley  is 
joined  by  the  Tyropeon,  and  a  little  to  the  southeast 
they  unite  with  the  Kedron  Valley  above  Job’s  Well 

(p.  261). 

II.  From  the  Jaffa  Gate  to  the  Tombs  of  the  Judges, 
the  Tombs  of  the  Kings,  and  the  Grotto  of  Jeremiah. 

After  leaving  the  Jaffa  Gate,  we  take  the  road  to  Neby 
Samwil,  pass  the  Russian  buildings  on  the  left,  and  pro¬ 
ceed  through  olive  groves,  ash-heaps,  cisterns  and  ruins, 
until  we  come  to  the  Tombs  of  the  Judges,  a  little  more 
than  two  miles  north  of  our  starting-point.  These  re¬ 
markable  tombs  are  well  worthy  of  a  careful  examination. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  rock  is  a  small  fore-court 
seven  and  one-half  feet  deep,  leading  to  a  vestibule 
twelve  feet  wide,  open  in  front  and  provided  with  a  gable. 
Another  gable  rises  over  the  portal  which  leads  into  the 
tomb-chamber.  The  southeast  and  northwest  corners  of 
the  first  tomb-chamber  ar b  imbedded  in  rubbish.  On 
the  north  side  of  it  are  seven  shaft-tombs,  above  which 
are  three  vaulted  niche-tombs,  and  at  the  back  of  these 
again  are  several  shaft-tombs.  Adjoining  this  first  cham¬ 
ber  on  the  east  and  on  the  south  are  two  others  nearly 
on  the  same  level  and  two  on  a  lower  level.  The  myth 
that  the  Judges  of  Israel  are  buried  here  is  modern. 
There  are  many  other  rock-tombs  in  the  vicinity,  but 
none  of  such  extent  as  these. 

A  mile  and  a  half  southeast  of  the  so-called  Tombs  of 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JEBUSALEM. 


449 


the  Judges  are  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings.  Of  these 
tombs,  which  he  rightly  describes  as  u  bewildering  cata¬ 
combs/7  Dr.  Thomson  gives  the  following  description : 

u  Those  who  made  these  tombs  selected  a  platform, 
nearly  level,  of  hard  limestone  rock,  and  in  this  they  ex¬ 
cavated  an  open  court  almost  ninety  feet  square  and 
twenty  deep.  This  court  was  no  doubt  perfectly  pro¬ 
tected  all  around,  though  the  rock  on  the  eastern  side  is 
now  broken  away.  To  obtain  access  to  the  court  a  trench 
was  cut  on  the  side  of  it,  having  a  gradual  slope  east¬ 
ward.  Near  the  eastern  end  of  this  trench  was  an  arched 
doorway,  cut  through  the  solid  rock,  opening  into  the 
court,  wdiich  I  suppose  was  originally  the  only  entrance. 
On  the  west  side  of  it  is  a  portico  thirty-nine  feet  long, 
seventeen  feet  wide  and  fifteen  high,  measuring  from  the 
rock  floor.  The  front  of  this  portico  was  originally  orna¬ 
mented  with  grapes,  garlands  and  festoons,  beautifully 
wrought  on  the  cornice  ;  and  the  two  columns  in  the  cen¬ 
tre  and  the  pilasters  at  the  corners  appear  to  have  re¬ 
sembled  the  Corinthian  order.  A  very  low  door  in  the 
south  end  of  the  portico  opens  into  the  antechamber, 
nineteen  feet  square  and  seven  or  eight  high.  From  this, 
three  passages  conduct  into  other  rooms,  two  of  them  to 
the  south,  which  are  about  twelve  feet  square  and  have 
each  five  or  six  crypts.  On  the  west  side  is  a  room  thir¬ 
teen  feet  square,  and  a  passage  leads  from  it  down  several 
steps  into  a  large  vault  running  north  where  are  crypts 
parallel  to  the  sides.  These  rooms  are  all  cut  in  intensely 
hard  rock,  and  the  entrances  were  originally  closed  with 
stone  doors,  wrought  with  panels  and  hung  on  stone 
hinges,  which  are  now  all  broken.  The  whole  series  of 

tombs  indicate  the  hand  of  royalty  and  the  leisure  of 

29 


450 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


years,  but  by  whom  and  for  whom  they  were  made  is  a 
mere  matter  of  conjecture.” 

Their  careful  construction  proves  them  to  have  been 
the  burial-place  of  persons  of  high  rank,  and  they  are 
greatly  revered  by  the  Jews,  who  from  a  very  early 
period  have  called  them  the  Cavern  of  ZedeJciah,  or  the 
Tomb  of  KaTba  Sabua ,  a  rich  Jewish  noble  who  lived 
at  the  time  of  the  great  siege.  A  common  opinion  is 
that  this  catacomb  is  the  Tomb  of  Queen  Helena  of  Adi- 
abene,  which  according  to  Josephus  was  situated  here. 
With  her  son  Izates  she  was  converted  to  Judaism  in 
her  own  country,  and  after  the  death  of  her  husband 
Mambaz  in  A.  D.  48  resided  at  Jerusalem.  She  after¬ 
ward  returned  home,  but  when  she  died  her  body  was 
brought  to  Jerusalem  and  buried  in  a  pyramidal  tomb 
three  stadia  from  the  city.  Izates  had  twenty-four  sons, 
and  hence  possibly  the  extent  of  the  tomb.  These  vaults 
were  understood  to  be  tombs  as  early  as  the  fourteenth 
century,  and  they  were  sometimes  referred  by  tradition 
to  the  early  kings  of  Judah,  whence  they  are  still  called 
u  Tombs  of  the  Kings.” 

In  the  shallow  wady  of  the  Kedron,  a  little  north  of  the 
Tombs  of  the  Kings,  are  the  Tombs  of  Simon  the  Just 
and  of  the  Sanhedrin.  u  These  curious  sepulchres,” 
says  Dr.  Robinson,  u  are  rarely  visited.  They  are  in 
the  Valley  of  the  Kedron,  a  short  distance  northeast  of 
the  Tombs  of  the  Kings,  and  under  the  cliffs  on  the 
north  side  of  the  wady.  They  are  frequented  exclusively 
by  the  Jews,  and  mostly  on  their  festival  days.  I  once 
entered  them  on  the  thirty-third  day  after  the  Passover 
— a  day  consecrated  to  the  honor  of  Simon.  The  tombs 
seemed  to  me  to  have  been  excavated  in  natural  caves. 


THE  ENVIBONS  OF  JEEUSALEM. 


451 


The  entrance  to  all  of  them  was  very  low  and  without 
ornament.  The  interior  was  spacious  and  gloomy  in  the 
extreme,  especially  that  which  was  said  to  have  contained 
the  remains  of  the  Sanhedrin.  There  were  between 
sixty  and  seventy  niches  where  bodies  may  have  been 
placed ;  and  from  that  number  perhaps  the  idea  origi¬ 
nated  that  they  were  the  crypts  of  the  seventy  men  of 
the  great  synagogue.  Dr.  Wilson  seems  to  have  heard 
of  these  tombs,  but  he  confounds  them  with  those  of  the 
Judges,  which  are  a  mile  or  more  to  the  northwest.” 

Nearly  southeast  from  the  Tombs  of  the  Kings,  not  far 
from  the  northern  wall  of  the  city,  and  nearly  equally 
distant  from  the  Damascus  Gate  and  the  Gate  of  Herod, 
is  the  Grotto  of  Jeremiah,  a  spot  of  peculiar  interest 
because  an  ingeniously  supported  theory  has  been  put 
forward  that  the  high  Tell  ez  Zahara ,  under  which  the 
grotto  or  cave  is  situated,  is  the  true  Mount  Calvary. 
u  The  yawning  cave  of  Jeremiah,”  says  Dr.  Thomson, 
u  extends  under  the  cliff  about  one  hundred  and  fifty 
feet ;  and  there  are  buildings,  graves  and  sacred  spots 
arranged  irregularly  about  it,  walled  off,  whitewashed 
and  plastered.  Under  the  floor  of  the  cavern  are  vast 
cisterns.  Lighting  our  tapers  we  descend  into  the  lowest 
one.  The  roof  is  supported  by  heavy  square  columns, 
and  the  whole,  neatly  plastered,  is  now  used  as  a  cistern. 
The  water  is  pure,  cold  and  sweet.  In  any  other  part 
of  the  world  it  would  be  considered  a  remarkable  work ; 
but  here,  in  the  vicinity  of  such  excavations  as  under¬ 
mine  the  whole  ridge  within  the  city,  it  dwindles  into  in¬ 
significance.”  In  this  cave  it  is  said  that  the  Prophet 
Jeremiah  was  imprisoned  and  wrote  his  Lamentations, 
and  the  keepers  of  the  grotto  point  out  his  tomb  near  by ; 


452 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


but  it  is  certain  that  tbe  prison  of  tbe  prophet  was  within 
the  city  (Jer.  xxxviii),  and  it  is  equally  certain  that  the 
present  grotto  was  never  included  within  the  wall  until 
the  time  of  Herod  Agrippa,  six  centuries  later.  Of  the 
burial-place  of  Jeremiah  nothing  whatever  is  known, 
nor  even  of  the  place  of  his  death.  He  was  carried  cap¬ 
tive  into  Egypt  (Jer.  xliii :  5-7),  and  in  all  probability 
died  there. 

The  theory  that  the  Tell  ez  Zaliara  above  the  so-called 
Grotto  of  Jeremiah  is  the  true  Calvary  has  a  good  deal 
of  plausibility.  The  tradition  which  places  the  scene  of 
the  Crucifixion  and  the  Resurrection  under  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  dates  no  earlier  than  the  time  of 
Constantine,  and  has  no  higher  authority  than  an  in¬ 
credible  myth  which  has  already  been  told  (p.  242). 
Whether  that  spot  can  possibly  be  the  place  of  our  Lord’s 
death  and  burial  depends  upon  the  question  whether  it 
was  or  was  not  at  that  time  included  within  the  wall. 
The  Saviour  was  crucified  and  buried  without  the  wall,  as 
the  writer  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  distinctly  affirms 
(Heb.  xiii :  12) ;  and  the  same  fact  would  be  sufficiently 
implied  by  the  Evangelists  even  if  we  did  not  know  that 
the  Israelites  invariably  had  their  sepulchres  outside  their 
cities  (Matt.  xxvii:31,  32;  xxviii:ll;  Mark  xv :  20, 
21  j  Luke  xxiii :  26).  The  site  of  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  is  within  the  modern  wall,  and  the  weight 
of  opinion  seems  steadily  to  incline  to  a  conviction  that 
it  must  have  been  within  the  wall  which  existed  in  the 
time  of  Christ.  The  probability  therefore  is  that  wher¬ 
ever  Calvary  may  have  been,  it  cannot  have  been  the 
place  indicated  by  ecclesiastical  tradition. 

Again,  the  place  of  crucifixion  bore  a  name  which  it 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


453 


apparently  owed  to  some  peculiarity  of  formation,  since 
it  was  called  in  Greek  Kranion,  A  Skull  (Luke  xxiii :  33), 
and  in  Hebrew  Golgotha ,  The  Place  of  a  Skull  (Matt, 
xxvii :  33  j  Mark  xv  :  22  j  John  xix  :  17).  There  is 
every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  Crucifixion  of  our 
Saviour  was  at  the  usual  place  of  execution,  and  it  has 
often  been  explained  that  Golgotha  may  have  received 
its  sinister  designation  from  the  skulls  of  executed  crimi¬ 
nals  left  to  bleach  on  its  unhallowed  side.  But  if  that 
were  the  true  reason,  the  spot  would  have  been  called 
The  Place  of  S hulls,  and  not  Kranion,  A  Skull,  or  The 
Place  of  a  Skull.  It  seems  more  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  form  of  Calvary  itself  may  have  resembled  that 
of  a  huge  skull,  and  in  that  case  the  name  Kranion  or 
Golgotha  would  have  had  a  double  appropriateness.  The 
site  of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  which  is  lower 
than  that  of  the  land  immediately  around  it,  can  hardly 
have  had  any  such  form. 

But  the  Tell  ez  Zahara  lies  without  the  northern  wall, 
u  nigh  unto  the  city  ”  (John  xix  :  20),  being  not  more 
than  forty  rods  from  the  Damascus  Gale,  and  its  outline, 
seen  from  a  distance,  strikingly  resembles  that  of  a  skull. 
Moreover  the  Jews,  following  a  very  ancient  tradition 
of  the  Talmud,  call  it  the  Place  of  Stoning.  An  early 
Christian  tradition  makes  it  the  scene  of  the  stoning  of 
St.  Stephen,  the  first  Christian  mart}^r,  and  the  gate 
which  is  now  called  Plerod’s  Gate  was  formerly  called  St. 
Stephen’s  Gate,  though  that  name  was  transferred  at  a 
later  time  to  another  gate  on  the  east  side  of  the  city. 
From  these  facts  it  seems  exceedingly  probable  that  this 
Tell  was  the  ancient  place  of  public  execution. 

Tell  ez  Zahara  thus  seems  to  have  probabilities  in  its 


454 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


favor  which  are  lacking  in  the  traditional  Calvary,  and 
in  other  respects  it  well  conforms  to  the  incidental  indica¬ 
tions  of  the  Gospels.  Kranion,  or  Golgotha,  must  have 
been  near  a  thoroughfare  where  persons  were  constantly 
passing,  since  u  they  that  passed  by  v  reviling  and  railing 
at  the  Crucified  Saviour  were  clearly  not  those  who  had 
gone  out  to  see  the  Crucifixion,  but  chance  passengers 
(Matt,  xxvii :  39  j  Mark  xv  :  29).  It  was  also  an  object 
so  conspicuous  as  to  be  seen  u  afar  off”  (Matt,  xxvii :  55  ; 
Mark  xv  :  40  5  Luke  xxiii :  49)  j  and  in  its  neighborhood 
were  tombs  and  gardens.  In  every  one  of  these  particu¬ 
lars  the  Tell  above  the  Grotto  of  Jeremiah  corresponds 
with  the  Kranion  of  the  Gospels,  and  the  conjecture  that 
it  is  the  true  Calvary,  first  made  by  an  American  gentle¬ 
man,  Mr.  Fisher  Howe,  has  gained  many  adherents  such 
as  Dr.  Selah  Merril,  U.  S.  Consul  at  Jerusalem,  Dr.  Otto 
Thenius  and  Capt.  Conder. 

In  1881  it  was  found  that  a  Jewish  tomb  existed  on  a 
smaller  knoll  not  far  from  the  Tell  ez  Zahara,  and  in  the 
Palestine  Quarterly  Statement,  1883,  p.  76,  the  follow¬ 
ing  significant  observation  is  made  :  u  It  would  be  bold  to 
hazard  the  suggestion  that  this  single  Jewish  sepulchre 
thus  found  is  indeed  the  Tomb  in  the  Garden,  nigh  unto 
the  place  called  Golgotha,  which  belonged  to  the  rich 
Joseph  of  Arimathsea  j  yet  its  appearance  so  near  the  old 
place  of  execution  and  so  far  from  the  other  tombs  in  the 
old  cemeteries  of  the  city  is  extremely  remarkable.” 

In  the  opinion  of  the  writer  the  location  of  Calvary  is 
not  a  matter  of  supreme  importance  j  nevertheless,  as  the 
subject  is  interesting,  and  as  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Howe 
seems  be  gaining  favor,  it  may  be  well  here  to  quote  a  pas¬ 
sage  in  which  the  facts  are  very  well  put  by  Dr.  Geikie. 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


455 


u  There  is  little  in  the  New  Testament  to  fix  the 
exact  position  of  the  c  mount ?  on  which  our  Lord  was 
crucified,  though  the  statement  that  He  1  suffered  without 
the  gate ?  (Heb.  xiii :  12)  is  enough  to  prove  that  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is  not  on  the  true  site. 
The  name  Golgotha,  c  the  Place  of  a  Skull/  may  well 
have  referred  rather  to  the  shape  of  the  ground  than  to 
the  place  so  called  being  that  of  public  execution,  and  if 
this  be  so,  a  spot  reminding  one  of  a  skull  by  its  form 
must  be  sought  outside  the  city.  It  must  besides  be  near 
one  of  the  great  roads,  for  those  who  were  1  passing  by  ’ 
are  expressly  noticed  in  the  Gospels  (Mark  xv :  29). 
That  Joseph  of  Arimathsea  carried  the  body  to  his  own 
new  tomb,  hewn  out  in  the  rock,  and  standing  in  the 
midst  of  a  garden  outside  the  city  (Matt,  xxvii :  60),  re¬ 
quires  further  that  Calvary  should  be  found  near  the 
great  Jewish  cemetery  of  the  time  of  our  Lord.  This 
lay  on  the  north  side  of  Jerusalem,  stretching  from  close 
to  the  gates  along  the  different  ravines  and  up  the  low 
slopes  which  rise  on  all  sides.  The  sepulchre  of  Simon 
the  Just,  dating  from  the  third  century  before  Christ,  is 
in  this  part,  and  so  also  is  the  noble  tomb  of  Helena, 
Queen  of  Adiabene,  hewn  out  in  the  first  century  of  our 
era,  and  still  fitted  with  a  rolling  stone  to  close  its  en¬ 
trance,  as  was  that  of  our  Lord.  Ancient  tombs  abound 
moreover  close  at  hand,  showing  themselves  amidst  the 
low  hilly  ground  wherever  we  turn  on  the  roadside. 
Everything  thus  tends  to  show  that  this  cemetery  was 
that  which  was  in  use  in  the  days  of  our  Lord. 

u  On  these  grounds  it  has  been  urged  with  much  force 
that  Calvary  must  be  sought  near  the  city,  but  outside 
the  ancient  gate,  on  the  north  approach  close  to  a  main 


456 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


road,  and  these  requirements  the  knoll  or  swell  over  the 
Grotto  of  Jeremiah  remarkably  fulfills  (John  xx  :  12). 
Rising  gently  toward  the  north,  its  slowly-rounded  top 
might  easily  have  obtained  from  its  shape  the  name  of  ( a 
Skull/ — in  Latin,  Calvaria  ;  in  Aramaic,  Golgotha.  This 
spot  has  been  associated  from  the  earliest  times  with  the 
martyrdom  of  St.  Stephen,  to  whom  a  church  was  dedi¬ 
cated  near  it  before  the  fifth  century.  And  this,  as  Cap¬ 
tain  Conder  shows,  is  fixed  by  local  tradition  at  the  spot, 
which  is  still  pointed  out  by  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem  as 
( the  Place  of  Stoning/  where  offenders  were  not  only  put 
to  death  but  hung  up  by  the  hands  till  sunset  after  execu¬ 
tion.  As  if  to  make  the  identification  still  more  com¬ 
plete,  the  busy  road  which  has  led  to  the  north  in  all  ages 
passes  close  by  the  knoll,  branching  off  a  little  further 
on  to  Gibeon,  Damascus  and  Ramah.  It  was  the  custom 
of  the  Romans  to  crucify  transgressors  at  the  sides  of  the 
busiest  public  roads,  and  thus,  as  we  have  seen,  they  treated 
our  Saviour  when  they  subjected  him  to  this  most  shame¬ 
ful  of  deaths  (Luke  xxiii :  35).  Here  then  apparently 
on  this  bare  rounded  knoll,  rising  about  thirty  feet  above 
the  road,  with  no  building  on  it,  but  covered  in  part  with 
Mohammedan  graves,  the  low  yellow  cliff  of  the  Grotto 
of  Jeremiah  looking  out  from  its  southern  end,  the 
Saviour  of  the  world  appears  to  have  passed  away  with 
that  great  cry  which  has  been  held  to  betoken  cardiac 
rupture — for  it  would  seem  that  He  literally  died  of  a 
broken  heart.  Before  him  lay  outspread  the  guilty  city 
which  had  clamored  for  his  blood ;  beyond  it  the  pale 
slopes  of  Olivet,  from  which  He  was  shortly  to  ascend  in 
triumph  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  High  j  and 
in  the  distance,  but  clear  and  seemingly  near,  the  pinkish- 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


457 


yellow  mountains  of  Moab,  lighting  up,  it  may  be,  the 
fading  eyes  of  the  Innocent  One  with  the  remembrance 
that  his  death  would  one  day  bring  back  lost  mankind — 
not  Israel  alone — from  the  east,  and  the  west,  and  the 
north,  and  the  south,  to  the  kingdom  of  God.” 

The  tomb  in  which  our  Lord  was  buried  will  be  per¬ 
haps  forever  unknown,  but  it  was  some  one  of  those,  we 
may  be  sure,  still  found  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Place  of  Stoning.  That  which  has  been  specially 
noticed  by  Captain  Conder  as  possibly  the  very  tomb  of 
Joseph  of  Arimathsea  is  cut  in  the  face  of  a  curious  rock 
platform,  measuring  seventy  paces  each  way,  and  is 
situated  about  two  hundred  yards  west  of  the  Grotto  of 
Jeremiah.  The  platform  is  roughly  scarped  on  all  sides, 
apparently  by  human  art,  and  on  the  west  there  is  a 
higher  piece  of  rock,  the  sides  of  which  are  also  rudely 
scarped.  The  rest  of  the  space  is  fairly  level,  but  there 
seems  to  be  traces  of  the  foundation  of  a  surrounding 
wall  in  some  low  mounds  near  the  edge  of  the  platform. 
In  this  low  bank  of  rock  is  an  ancient  tomb,  rudely  cut, 
with  its  entrance  to  the  east.  The  doorway  is  much 
broken,  and  there  is  a  loophole  or  window,  four  feet  wide, 
on  both  sides  of  it.  An  outer  space,  seven  feet  square, 
has  been  cut  in  the  rock,  and  two  stones  placed  in  this 
give  the  idea  that  they  may  have  been  intended  to  hold 
in  its  proper  position  a  rolling  stone  with  which  the  tomb 
was  closed.  On  the  north  is  a  side  entrance  leading  into 
a  chamber  with  a  single  stone  grave  cut  along  its  side, 
and  thence  into  a  cavern  about  eight  paces  square  and 
ten  feet  high,  with  a  well-mouth  in  its  roof. 

Another  chamber  within  this  is  reached  by  a  descent 
of  two  steps,  and  measures  six  feet  by  nine.  On  each 


458 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


side  of  it  an  entrance  twenty  inches  broad  and  about  five 
and  a  half  feet  high  has  been  opened  into  another 
chamber  beyond,  and  passages  which  are  four  and  a  half 
feet  long  having  a  ledge  or  bench  of  rock  at  the  side. 
Two  bodies  could  thus  be  laid  in  each  of  the  three 
chambers,  which  in  turn  lead  to  two  other  chambers 
about  five  feet  square,  with  narrow  entrances.  Their 
floors  were  still  thinly  strewn  with  human  bones  when 
Captain  Conder  explored  them. 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  a  group  of  Jewish  houses  is 
growing  up  round  the  spot.  The  rock  is  being  blasted 
for  building-stone,  and  the  tomb,  unless  special  measures 
are  taken  for  its  preservation,  may  soon  be  entirely  de¬ 
stroyed. 

III.  Down  the  Kedron  Valley  to  Job’s  Well. 

The  course  of  the  Kedron  Valley  has  already  been 
sufficiently  described  (p.  218).  In  the  shallow  wady 
north  of  the  city  there  are  few  objects  of  interest  but 
tombs,  of  which  the  sepulchres  of  Simon  and  the  San¬ 
hedrin  are  the  most  important  (p.  450).  In  the  deep 
ravine  between  the  Mount  of  Olives  and  Jerusalem  are 
scenes  of  unspeakable  sacredness,  though  now  desecrated 
and  vulgarized  by  the  painful  trivialities  of  cultivated 
superstition. 

From  north  to  south  the  floor  of  the  Kedron  Valley 
deepens  and  contracts.  The  upper  part  is  planted  with 
olive  trees ;  the  lower  is  quite  uncultivated.  As  early 
as  the  time  of  Christ  the  Kedron  was  called  the  Winter 
Brook,  and  at  the  present  day  the  upper  part  is  always 
dry.  Recent  explorations  have  ascertained  that  its  bed 
in  ancient  times  lay  about  thirty  feet  west  of  the  present 
floor  of  the  valley.  The  eastern  slope  of  the  Temple 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


459 


Hill  is  now  deeply  covered  with  debris ,  and  must  formerly 
have  been  much  steeper  than  it  is  at  present.  The  Mos¬ 
lems  believe  that  this  valley  is  to  be  the  place  of  final 
judgment,  and  that  its  area  will  then  be  miraculously  en¬ 
larged  so  that  all  men  shall  have  room  to  stand  within  its 
limits.  From  the  wall  of  the  Temple  area  to  the  Mount 
of  Olives  a  wire  rope  is  to  be  extended  5  the  two  great 
Judges,  Jesus  and  Mohammed,  are  to  sit,  the  former  on 
the  Temple  wall,  the  latter  on  the  Mount ;  and  in  their 
presence  all  men  must  pass  over  the  valley  on  the  rope. 
The  righteous,  aided  by  their  guardian  angels,  will  cross 
safely  over  with  the  swiftness  of  lightning,  but  the  wicked 
will  fall  headlong  into  the  pit  of  hell. 

Nearly  opposite  St.  Stephen’s  Gate  the  bed  of  the 
Kedron  is  spanned  by  a  bridge  of  a  single  arch,  and  on 
the  left  of  the  road,  going  south,  is  the  subterranean 
Chapel  of  the  Tomb  of  the  Virgin,  where  the  Apostles 
are  supposed  to  have  laid  the  remains  of  the  Mother  of 
Jesus  and  where  her  body  is  supposed  to  have  lain  until 
her  fabled  assumption.  The  only  part  of  this  curious 
church  above  ground  is  the  porch,  and  to  the  open  court 
in  front  of  it  the  descent  is  made  by  three  flights  of 
steps.  The  portal  in  the  principal  fa9ade  of  the  porch 
has  a  beautiful  pointed  arch,  into  which  a  wall  with  a 
r  small  door  has  been  built.  Within  the  door  is  a  hand¬ 
some  flight  of  47  marble  steps,  19  feet  wide  at  the  top 
and  descending  to  a  depth  of  35  feet  below  the  outer 
court.  About  half-way  down  are  two  side  chapels — one 
on  the  right  containing  the  tombs  of  Joachim  and  Anna, 
the  parents  of  the  Virgin,  and  another  on  the  left  con¬ 
taining  the  tomb  of  Joseph.  There  is  a  third  vault  on 
the  left  of  the  stairs,  to  which  however  no  tradition  is 


460 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


attached.  At  the  foot  of  the  stairway  we  enter  the 
chapel,  which  is  cruciform  and  brilliantly  lighted  with 
lamps.  Its  length  is  93  feet,  its  width  20  feet,  the  tran¬ 
sept  from  end  to  end  is  about  45  feet.  The  nave  lies 
east  and  west.  Its  eastern  wing  is  much  longer  than  the 
western  and  has  a  window  above,  and  in  the  midst  of  it 
is  the  sarcophagus  of  the  Virgin.  In  different  places  are 
the  altars  of  the  Greeks,  the  Armenians  and  the  Abys- 
sinians,  and  an  oratory  of  the  Moslems. 

Returning  to  the  upper  fore-court,  we  observe  on  our 
left  a  passage  leading  to  a  cavern  which  is  called  the 
Cave  or  Grotto  of  the  Agony,  and  is  supposed  to  be  the 
very  spot  in  which  Jesus  prayed  and  said,  u  My  Father, 
if  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me  ;  nevertheless, 
not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt !”  This  is  a  genuine  grotto 
in  the  solid  rock;  it  is  54  feet  long,  37J  wide  and  12  in 
height ;  the  ceiling  is  supported  jDartly  by  natural  pillars 
and  partly  by  masonry ;  and  a  hole  in  the  ceiling  seems 
to  indicate  that  the  grotto  is  an  ancient  olive-press.  If 
this  supposition  is  correct,  then  it  is  not  at  all  improbable 
that  we  are  here  in  the  very  olive-press  which  gave  its 
name  to  the  Garden  of  the  Olive  Press — Gethsemane  ! 

Somewhere  in  this  vicinity  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane 
must  have  been ;  and  high  authorities  affirm  that  the  en¬ 
closure  which  now  bears  that  name  entirely  corresponds 
with  the  accounts  of  the  Evangelists.  Any  spot  in  that 
part  of  the  Kedron  Valley  would  perhaps  answer  as  well; 
and  indeed  another  spot  than  this  is  also  claimed  to  be 
the  true  place  of  our  Saviour’s  solitary  struggle. 

The  modern  Garden  of  Gethsemane  is  an  enclosure  of 
a  rectangular  form,  160  feet  long  and  about  150  wide, 
which  is  now  surrounded  by  a  hedge.  It  is  in  the  pos- 


I 


I 


1 


I 


) 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


461 


session  of  Franciscan  monks,  and  is  kept  in  the  trimmest 
and  most  artificial  style.  The  ground  is  divided  into 
beds  in  which  roses,  pinks  and  other  flowers  are  culti¬ 
vated,  and  the  attendant  monk  is  careful  to  cull  a  nose¬ 
gay  for  which  the  visitor  is  expected  to  pay  him  one 
franc.  There  are  also  cypresses  and  some  young  olive 
trees,  but  the  greatest  glory  of  the  garden  is  the  seven 
venerable  olive  trees,  some  of  which  are  19  feet  in  cir¬ 
cumference,  their  bark  burst  with  age,  and  their  trunks 
so  bent  as  to  require  to  be  shored  up  with  stones.  /One 
would  fain  believe  these  aged  trees  to  be  the  same  which 
spread  their  boughs  over  the  Son  of  Man.  That  how¬ 
ever  cannot  be,  for  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus 
every  tree  in  that  valley  was  cut  down.  A  thousand 
years  later  when  the  Crusaders  took  possession  of  Jeru¬ 
salem  they  found  no  trees  in  the  Kedron  Valley,  and  it 
was  not  before  the  sixteenth  century  that  the  ancient 
trees  of  Gethsemane  began  to  be  mentioned.  For  all 
that,  these  trees  are  very  likely  lineal  though  remote  de¬ 
scendants  of  those  which  grew  there  in  the  time  of 
Christ  j  and  certain  it  is  that  they  are  utterly  unlike  all 
other  trees  of  the  same  species  which  are  seen  elsewhere 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives.  Dean  Stanley  says  that  u  in 
spite  of  all  the  doubts  that  can  be  raised  against  their 
antiquity  or  the  genuineness  of  their  site,  these  ancient 
olive  trees,  if  only  by  their  manifest  difference  from  all 
others  on  the  mountains,  have  always  struck  even  the 
most  indifferent  observers.  They  are  now  indeed  less 
striking  in  the  modern  garden  enclosure  built  round  them 
by  the  Franciscan  monks  than  when  they  stood  free  and 
unprotected  on  the  mountain  side ;  but  they  will  remain, 
so  long  as  their  already  protracted  life  is  spared,  the  most 


462 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


venerable  of  their  race  on  the  surface  of  the  earth  ;  their 
gnarled  trunks  and  scanty  foliage  will  always  be  regarded 
as  the  most  affecting  of  the  sacred  memorials  in  or  about 
Jerusalem ;  the  most  nearly  approaching  to  the  everlast¬ 
ing  hills  themselves  in  the  force  with  which  they  carry 
us  back  to  the  events  of  the  Gospel  history.” 

The  Garden  of  Gethsemane  is  entered  from  the  eastern 
side,  that  is  the  side  next  to  the  Mount  of  Olives.  A 
rock  immediately  east  of  the  gate  is  said  to  mark  the 
spot  where  the  disciples  Peter  and  James  and  John 
slept  during  their  Master’s  agony.  Some  ten  or  twelve 
paces  to  the  south  of  that  spot,  and  of  course  without 
the  enclosure,  the  fragment  of  a  pillar  indicates  the  place 
where  Judas  betrayed  Jesus  with  a  kiss.  At  one  time 
the  garden  was  of  much  greater  extent  than  at  the  pres¬ 
ent,  and  contained  several  churches  and  chapels  which 
have  now  long  disappeared.  The  place  of  the  betrayal 
was  then  located  in  the  Grotto  of  the  Agony,  and  the 
traditions  of  the  spot  have  greatly  varied.  The  oil  made 
from  the  olives  of  Gethsemane  is  sold  at  a  high  price, 
and  rosaries  made  from  the  olive  stones  are  in  great 
request. 

From  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane  there  are  three  roads 
to  the  summit  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and  half-way  up 
the  middle  path,  which  is  also  the  steepest,  is  a  ruin  on 
the  spot  where  Jesus,  “when  He  was  come  near,  beheld 
the  city  and  wept  over  it  ”  (Luke  xix  :  41).  This  spot 
is  venerated  even  by  the  Moslems,  who  built  a  mosque 
in  honor  of  it ;  but  the  building  is  now  deserted. 

At  or  near  that  same  spot  undoubtedly  is  the  place 
where  Jesus  predicted  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  on 
the  Tuesday  of  the  week  in  which  He  suffered.  On  that 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


463 


day  He  had  sat  teaching  in  the  Court  of  Israel,  near  the 
Treasury  (Mark  xii :  41),  and  just  before  He  left  the 
Temple  He  saw  and  commended  the  faith  of  the  poor 
widow  who  of  her  penury  cast  in  the  two  mites,  which 
were  all  the  living  that  she  had  (Mark  xii :  41-44  j  Luke 
xxi :  1-4).  Then  He  quitted  the  Temple,  passing  the 
gate  through  the  massive  wall  which  surrounded  the 
sacred  enclosure.  u  As  He  went  out  of  the  Temple  one 
of  his  disciples  v  used  an  expression  of  admiration  at  the 
immense  u  stones  and  buildings  ”  of  the  splendid  struc¬ 
ture,  and  in  answer  received  a  brief  prophecy  that  not 
one  stone  of  all  the  edifice  should  be  left  upon  another. 
In  going  out  they  would  be  surrounded  by  a  throng  of 
people,  and  there  would  be  little  opportunity  for  further 
conversation  ;  but  in  returning  to  Bethany  Jesus  did  not 
take  the  easier  although  longer  road  round  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  but  the  shorter  and  steeper  path  directly  up  the 
west  side  of  the  Mount.  Half-way  up  they  rested  and  sat 
down  facing  Jerusalem  u  over  against  the  Temple  v  (Mark 
xiii :  3),  and  it  was  then  that  He  delivered  the  long  dis¬ 
course  of  warning  and  instruction  which  is  recorded  in  the 
thirteenth  chapter  of  Mark.  Any  one  who  will  compare 
the  account  given  by  St.  Luke  of  the  action  and  discourse 
of  our  Saviour  on  that  day  with  the  circumstantial  exact¬ 
ness  of  time  and  place  exhibited  by  St.  Mark  will  surely 
perceive  that  while  St.  Luke  was  a  faithful  reporter  of 
what  he  heard  from  others,  he  had  nothing  of  that  preci¬ 
sion  of  detail  which  belongs  to  an  original  witness.  That 
exactness  and  precision  St.  Mark  has ;  not,  of  course, 
because  he  was  an  immediate  witness — though  he  may 
have  been — of  the  things  which  he  relates,  but  because, 
according  to  the  universal  tradition  of  the  Church,  he 


464 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


was  merely  the  secretary  or  amanuensis  of  the  Apostle 
Peter  from  whom  he  had  the  facts  which  he  narrates. 
Only  an  eye-witness  and  ear-witness  could  have  written 
or  dictated  the  account  of  our  Saviour’s  words  and  acts 
on  that  last  Tuesday  of  his  earthly  life  as  we  find  them 
recorded  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Mark  j  and  he  who  stands 
by  the  ruined  mosque  on  the  west  side  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives  may  be  sure  that  he  is  not  far  from  the  very  spot 
on  which  our  Saviour  charged  his  followers  in  every  age 
to  u  Watch !” 

If  we  proceed  to  the  summit  of  the  Mount  of  Olives 
we  find  there  a  village,  Kefr  et-Tur ,  which  is  not  visible 
from  Jerusalem,  and  within  the  court  of  a  mosque,  the 
minaret  of  which  is  ascended  by  all  travellers  for  the  sake 
of  the  superb  view  over  Jerusalem  and  the  Dead  Sea, 
we  find  a  small  octagonal  chapel  where  a  shapeless  de¬ 
pression  in  the  rock  is  pointed  out  as  the  last  footstep  of 
Christ  on  earth  before  his  ascension  into  heaven.  To 
say  nothing  of  the  inherent  absurdity  of  such  a  sign,  it 
seems  to  be  almost  incredible  that  the  crest  of  Olivet 
should  have  been  taken  for  the  place  of  the  Ascension  in 
face  of  the  express  statement  of  St.  Luke  that  our  Saviour 
before  parting  from  his  disciples  u  led  them  out  as  far  as 
to  Bethany  ”  (Luke  xxiv :  50),  that  is  to  say,  beyond  the 
crest  of  Olivet  and  some  way  down  the  eastern  side. 
The  blunder  is  easily  accounted  for.  The  Empress  Helena 
built  two  churches  in  Palestine,  one  at  Bethlehem  in 
honor  of  the  Nativity,  and  another  on  the  top  of  a  hill 
near  Jerusalem  in  memory  of  the  Ascension.  The  latter 
was  probably  on  the  summit  of  the  Mount  of  Olives,  and 
being  called  the  Church  of  the  Ascension  it  was  speedily 
supposed  to  be  erected  on  the  place  of  the  Ascension. 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


465 


Other  sacred  buildings  clustered  around  it.  Constantine 
built  a  roofless  basilica  5  in  the  sixth  century  many 
monasteries  had  been  added  j  the  Crusaders  erected  u  a 
small  tower  with  columns  in  the  centre  of  a  court  paved 
with  marble,  and  the  principal  altar  stood  on  the  rock 
within.”  In  1130  a  large  church  rose  over  the  spot, 
having  in  the  centre  a  broad  depression  marking  the 
scene  of  the  Ascension,  below  which  was  a  chapel.  After 
the  time  of  Saladin  the  chapel  was  enclosed  by  an  octag¬ 
onal  wall.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  church  was  com¬ 
pletely  destroyed ;  in  the  seventeenth  the  Moslems  re¬ 
stored  the  interior  of  the  chapel ;  and  in  1834—1835  it 
was  rebuilt  on  the  former  ground-plan. 

The  entrance  is  through  a  door  by  the  minaret  on  the 
west  side,  where  a  handsome  portal  admits  the  visitor  to 
a  court  in  the  centre  of  which  rises  a  small  chapel  of 
irregular  octagonal  form  and  about  twenty  feet  in  diam¬ 
eter.  In  the  middle  of  the  chapel  is  a  cylindrical  drum 
with  a  small  dome  over  the  spot  from  which  our  Saviour 
is  said  to  have  ascended.  It  belongs  to  the  Moslems 
who  regard  it  with  veneration,  but  on  certain  days  Chris¬ 
tians  are  permitted  to  use  it  as  an  altar  for  the  celebra¬ 
tion  of  the  mass.  In  an  oblong  marble  enclosure  is 
shown  the  footprint  of  Christ  in  the  rock. 

Quitting  this  spot  where  an  idle  and  superstitious  tra¬ 
dition  makes  void  an  express  statement  of  Holy  Scrip¬ 
ture,  we  enter  an  adjacent  mosque  occupied  by  a  com¬ 
munity  of  dervishes,  and  standing  on  the  site  of  a  former 
Augustinian  monastery.  On  ascending  the  minaret  a 
magnificent  panorama  is  spread  out  before  us.  Below 
on  the  west  lies  Jerusalem  with  the  Haram  enclosure  like 

a  vast  park,  dotted  with  oratories  and  surmounted  by  the 

30 


466 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


glorious  dome  of  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  The  physical 
conformation  of  the  city  appears  as  it  never  can  from  any 
other  point.  The  impregnable  position  of  the  Temple 
Mount  is  manifest.  The  hollow  of  the  Tyropeon  between 
the  Temple  hill  and  the  upper  part  of  the  town,  though 
now  filled  with  rubbish,  is  plainly  distinguishable.  The 
relative  position  and  the  different  heights  of  Mount  Zion, 
Mount  Moriah,  Akra,  Bezetha  and  Ophel  are  perceived 
at  a  glance.  Beyond  the  north  wall  we  can  trace  the 
course  of  the  upper  Valley  of  the  Kedron,  rich  with 
verdure  in  the  spring  time,  and  behind  it  Scopus,  whence 
the  Roman  looked  down  on  the  city  he  was  shortly  to  de¬ 
stroy,  confessing  that  its  beauty  might  avail  to  u  move 
the  majesty  of  Rome  to  mercy.’7  Looking  to  the  south, 
the  opprobrious  Mount  of  Offence  is  close  at  hand  and 
beyond  it  we  can  scan  the  southward  course  of  the  Kedron 
Valley.  A  few  miles  off  are  Tekoah,  and  the  Frank 
Mountain  and  the  hills  of  Bethlehem,  though  Bethlehem 
itself  is  concealed  from  view.  Everywhere  the  clearness 
of  the  atmosphere  deceives  the  eye,  and  the  Dead  Sea, 
lying  thirteen  miles  off  and  not  less  than  3000  feet  below 
our  point  of  view,  seems  near  at  hand  and  not  many 
hundred  feet  below.  Beyond  the  deep  chasm  in  which 
its  blue  and  glass-like  surface  lies  are  the  mountains  of 
Moab,  and  north  of  them  is  Gilead,  along  the  base  of  which 
the  Jordan  Ghor  appears  as  a  green  line  on  a  whitish 
ground.  Gazing  on  this  majestic  panorama  one  can 
almost  pardon  the  poetic  superstition  which  imagines  this 
place  to  be  the  place  of  the  Ascension. 

Taking  the  southern  path  down  the  mountain,  passing 
the  spots  where  silly  traditions  affirm  that  the  Lord’s 
Prayer  was  first  taught  and  the  Apostle’s  Creed  was  com- 


THE  ENVIEONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


467 


posed,  we  find  ourselves  opposite  to  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  Haram  at  the  so-called  Tomb  of  the  Prophets. 
This  curious  and  undoubtedly  ancient  Jewish  sepulchre 
is  peculiarly  interesting  on  account  of  an  early  tradition, 
the  truth  of  which  Eusebius  emphatically  maintains,  that 
our  Lord  initiated  his  disciples  in  his  secret  mysteries  in 
a  cave,  and  that  it  was  in  honor  of  that  cave,  which 
Constantine  himself  adorned,  that  Helena  built  her  Church 
of  the  Ascension.  u  The  cave  to  which  Eusebius  refers,” 
says  Dean  Stanley,  “  must  almost  certainly  be  the  same 
as  that  singular  catacomb,  a  short  distance  below  the 
third  summit  of  Olivet,  commonly  called  the  Tomb  of 
the  Prophets.  It  is  clear  from  the  language  of  Eusebius 
that  the  traditional  spot  which  Helena  meant  to  honor 
was  not  the  scene  of  the  Ascension  itself,  but  the  scene 
of  the  conversations  before  the  Ascension  and  the  cave 
in  which  they  were  believed  to  have  occurred.  Had  this 
been  perceived,  much  useless  controversy  might  have 
been  spared.”  No  Hebrew  tradition  connects  this  re¬ 
markable  sepulchre  with  the  ancient  Prophets  of  Israel  j 
but  as  early  as  the  seventh  century  four  stone  tables  were 
shown  there  at  which  it  was  said  that  our  Lord  and  his 
Apostles  sat,  and  a  church  was  erected  there  to  com¬ 
memorate  the  Betrayal.  The  spot  was  abandoned  and 
*  forgotten,  and  remained  unnoticed  until  the  seventeenth 
century,  when  it  was  observed  by  travellers  and  assumed 
its  present  name. 

The  entrance  to  the  Tomb  of  the  Prophets  is  insignifi¬ 
cant,  and  leads  into  a  rotunda  lighted  from  above,  from 
which  three  passages  thirteen  to  nineteen  yards  long 
extend  and  intersect  two  semicircular  transverse  passages. 
The  wall  of  the  outer  semicircle  contains  about  twenty- 


468 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


four  shaft-tombs.  The  rough  way  in  which  the  cham¬ 
bers  are  hewn  points  to  a  very  early  origin  of  these 
tombs,  and  the  form  of  the  receptacles  for  the  dead 
proves  them  to  be  of  the  Jewish  period.  By  the  modern 
Jews  they  are  regarded  with  the  greatest  veneration. 

Returning  to  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane,  and  taking 
the  path  down  the  valley,  we  soon  come  to  the  Jewish 
burying-ground  and  pass  by  four  remarkable  tombs.  The 
first  is  the  supposed  Tomb  of  Jehoshaphat,  from  whom 
the  valley  takes  one  of  its  names.  It  is  cut  into  the  face 
of  the  perpendicular  rock  and  has  an  ornamental  portal, 
but  the  sepulchre  is  wholly  underground  and  is  not  archi¬ 
tecturally  remarkable. 

Close  by,  on  the  southwest  of  the  Tomb  of  Jehosha¬ 
phat,  is  the  Tomb  of  Absalom,  by  far  the  most  striking 
object  in  the  valley,  hewn  out  of  the  native  rock  which 
has  simply  been  cut  away  from  three  sides  so  as  to  leave 
a  solid  body  twenty-two  feet  square  and  twenty  feet  high. 
As  the  base  is  embedded  in  rubbish  which  even  covers 
the  entrance,  the  true  height  of  the  block  must  be  con¬ 
siderably  greater.  This  huge  monolith  has  been  partly 
hollowed,  and  the  entrance  through  a  hole  on  the  north 
side  leads  to  an  empty  chamber  eight  feet  square  with 
tenantless  shelf-graves  cut  in  the  rock  on  two  sides.  The 
exterior  is  ornamented  with  Ionic  pillars  and  an  archi¬ 
trave  j  above  the  monolith  is  a  circular  attic  of  large 
hewn  stones ;  and  the  structure  is  finished  to  a  total 
height  of  forty-seven  feet  by  a  small  dome  running  up 
into  a  low  spire,  which  spreads  a  little  at  the  top  like 
an  opening  flower.  Of  the  history  of  this  striking  mon¬ 
ument  there  is  no  certainty,  but  the  Jews  believe  it  to  be 
the  pillar  which  Absalom  reared  in  the  King’s  Dale  (2 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


469 


Sam.  xviii :  18).  Jewish  children  have  been  seen  cast¬ 
ing  stones  at  it  and  cursing  the  memory  of  the  disobe¬ 
dient  and  treacherous  Absalom. 

Some  two  hundred  feet  south  of  this  is  the  Tomb  of 
St.  James,  which  has  a  porch  eighteen  feet  by  nine  front¬ 
ing  the  west,  ornamented  with  twTo  columns  and  two  half¬ 
columns  of  the  Doric  order.  The  entrance,  however,  is 
not  through  the  porch,  but  by  a  passage  cut  through  the 
rock  from  the  south  and  leading  to  a  cave  which  extends 
forty  or  fifty  feet  back  into  the  mountain.  A  tradition 
dating  from  the  sixth  century  assures  us  that  in  this 
grotto  St.  James  lay  concealed  and  fasting  from  the  hour 
of  Christ’s  death  until  after  the  Resurrection.  The  tradi¬ 
tion  that  he  was  buried  on  the  Mount  of  Olives  is  not 
older  than  the  sixteenth  century.  The  grotto  was  for¬ 
merly  occupied  by  monkish  preachers  j  it  now  sometimes 
serves  as  a  sheepfold. 

The  fourth  tomb,  immediately  south  of  the  Tomb  of 
St.  James,  is  the  monolith  of  Zechariah,  a  cubical  block 
measuring  seventeen  feet  each  way,  without  masonwork 
but  hewn  like  the  lower  part  of  the  Tomb  of  Absalom 
out  of  the  solid  rock,  and  surmounted  by  a  flattened  pyr¬ 
amid  of  twelve  feet  elevation.  The  entire  height  is  nearly 
thirty  feet,  and  there  is  no  entrance.  Each  of  the  sides 
has  two  columns  and  two  half-columns  of  the  Ionic  order. 
According  to  the  Jews,  by  whom  it  is  held  in  great  ven¬ 
eration,  this  monument  is  the  Tomb  of  Zechariah,  the 
priest  mentioned  in  2  Chronicles  xxiv  :  20,  21,  and  the 
same  to  whom  our  Saviour  referred  in  his  scathing  de¬ 
nunciation  of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  :  u  Woe  unto  you, 
Scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites !  because  ye  build  the 
tombs  of  the  prophets,  and  garnish  the  sepulchres  of  the 


470 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


righteous,  and  say,  If  we  had  been  in  the  days  of  our 
fathers,  we  would  not  have  been  partakers  with  them  in 
the  blood  of  the  prophets.  Wherefore  ye  be  witnesses 
unto  yourselves,  that  ye  are  the  children  of  them  which 

killed  the  prophets . Wherefore  behold,  I  send  unto 

you  prophets,  and  wise  men,  and  scribes :  and  some  of 
them  ye  shall  kill  and  crucify 5  and  some  of  them  shall 
ye  scourge  in  your  synagogues,  and  persecute  them  from 
city  to  city :  that  upon  you  may  come  all  the  righteous 
blood  shed  upon  the  earth,  from  the  blood  of  righteous 
Abel  unto  the  blood  of  Zacharias  son  of  Barachias,  whom 
ye  slew  between  the  temple  and  the  altar  ”  (Matt,  xxiii : 
29,  30,  31,  34,  35). 

A  hundred  yards  below  these  venerable  tombs  our  path 
down  the  valley  turns  somewhat  to  the  west  of  south,  in 
a  direction  parallel  with  the  base  of  Ophel,  until  we  come 
to  the  Virgin’s  Spring  (p.  257).  Thence,  as  we  proceed 
midway  between  Ophel  and  the  Mount  of  Offence,  we 
have  the  village  of  Silwan  on  our  left  skirting  the  base  of 
the  latter,  until  we  come  to  the  Pool  of  Siloam  at  the  foot 
of  Ophel  (p.  255),  three  hundred  yards  above  Job’s 
Well. 

IV.  Around  the  walls. 

As  the  traveller  approaches  Jerusalem  from  the  west 
he  has  the  whole  west  w^all  of  the  city  before  him,  ex¬ 
tending  north  and  south  above  the  Gihon  Valley.  At 
the  northwest  angle  are  remains  of  an  ancient  tower 
called  Kulat  el-Jalud ,  the  Castle  of  Goliath,  which  Mr. 
Ferguson  maintains  is  the  Hippicus  of  Josephus.  The 
entrance  to  the  Holy  City  is  by  the  Jaffa  Gate,  which 
the  Arabs  call  Bab  el- Khalil ,  that  is  the  Hebron  Gate. 
It  is  a  busy  place  ;  sentinels  and  custom-house  officers  are 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


471 


always  on  guard,  and  the  open  space  within  the  gate  is 
used  as  a  market-place  in  which  peasants  dispose  of 
fruits,  vegetables  and  other  country  products.  u  This 
open  space  probably  represents  the  i  market-place  7  men¬ 
tioned  by  Josephus  as  being  situated  on  the  western  hill 
prior  to  the  capture  of  the  city  by  the  Romans ;  and  here 
the  wholesale  fruit  and  vegetable  market  is  now  held 
every  day  soon  after  sunrise.  Dusky  women  of  Bethany 
and  Siloam,  in  long  blue  or  white  gowns,  with  bright 
colored  kerchiefs  tied  round  their  heads,  bring  large  bas¬ 
kets  full  of  cucumbers,  tomatoes  and  onions  and  other 
garden  produce,  while  from  more  distant  villages,  espe¬ 
cially  Bethlehem  and  Urtas,  troops  of  donkeys  come 
laden  with  enormous  cauliflowers  and  turnips,  guided 
by  boys  in  white  shirts  girdled  with  broad  red  leather 
belts.  The  pleasant-looking  Bethlehem  women,  wearing 
crimson  and  yellow  striped  or  blue  gowns  with  long  white 
linen  veils,  carry  on  their  heads  baskets  of  grapes,  figs, 
prickly  pears,  pomegranates  and  apricots,  or  whatever 
fruit  is  in  season.  Sometimes  this  market-place  is  almost 
blocked  up  with  the  piles  of  melons  or  with  oranges  and 
lemons  from  Jaffa,  and  in  the  early  summer-time  roses 
are  sold  here  by  weight  to  the  makers  of  conserves  and 
attar  of  roses.  Hotel-keepers  and  servants  from  the 
various  convents  come  here  to  make  their  bargains,  and 
turbaned  green-grocers  and  itinerant  vendors  of  fruit 
come  to  buy  their  stock  for  the  day.77 

On  the  right  of  the  Jaffa  Gate  is  the  Citadel,  which 
has  already  been  described  (p.  236),  and  adjoining  the 
Citadel  on  the  south  is  the  infantry  barracks.  u  Within 
the  citadel  there  is  ruin  and  rubbish  everywhere ;  with¬ 
out,  in  the  moat,  soldiers7  gardens,  beds  of  cactus  or 


472 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


prickly  pear,  and  filth  of  every  possible  description ;  and 
on  the  ramparts  a  few  old  cannon,  much  dreaded  by  the 
artillerymen  who  have  to  fire  them.  The  view  from  the 
top  of  David’s  Tower  is  extensive,  embracing  the  whole 
town,  the  Mount  of  Olives,  the  Dead  Sea  and  the  moun¬ 
tains  of  Moab — a  pleasant  sight  to  feast  the  eyes  upon 
for  half  an  hour  before  the  sun  goes  down.” 

From  the  barracks  the  wall  runs  due  south  to  the 
southwest  angle,  within  which  is  the  garden  of  the 
Armenian  monastery.  There  the  south  wall  begins. 
For  two  hundred  yards  it  runs  due  east,  and  then  in¬ 
clines  irregularly  to  the  north  of  east,  following  the 
natural  conformation  of  Zion,  until  it  crosses  the  Tyro- 
peon  to  a  point  on  Ophel  situated  about  ninety  yards 
south  of  the  Haram.  At  that  point  it  turns  directly 
north  for  ninety  yards  and  joins  the  south  wall  of  the 
Haram  one  hundred  yards  from  its  southwest  angle  and 
two  hundred  yards  from  its  southeast  angle,  which  is  also 
the  southeast  angle  of  the  city. 

In  the  south  wall  there  are  two  open  gates,  Bab  en- 
Neby  Baud  or  the  Gate  of  the  Prophet  David,  commonly 
called  Zion  Gate,  which  is  about  one  hundred  yards  from 
the  southwest  angle  of  the  city ;  and  Bab  el-Mughari- 
beh ,  or  the  Gate  of  the  Moors,  commonly  called  the  Dung 
Gate,  or  Tyropeon. 

Zion  Gate  is  simply  an  arch  in  the  wall  filled  in  with 
stones  so  as  to  leave  space  for  a  moderate-sized  two¬ 
leaved  door.  The  wall  however  is  very  thick.  Within 
the  north  side  of  the  gate  is  a  row  of  hovels  formerly  oc¬ 
cupied  by  lepers.  Suffering  from  a  hopeless  disease,  and 
dependent  on  charity  for  daily  bread,  these  poor  crea¬ 
tures  lived  together  under  a  sheikh  of  their  own  unfortu- 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  JERUSALEM. 


473 


nate  class,  with  exemplary  cheerfulness  and  good  humor. 
The  appeal  for  alms  which  they  made  without  rising  from 
their  seats  was  seldom  disregarded,  and  the  backsheesh 
of  the  passenger  was  received  in  tin  vessels  on  the  ground 
beside  them. 

The  Dung  Gate  in  the  bed  of  the  Tyropeon  is  a  small 
and  entirely  modern  entrance  with  no  architectural  pre¬ 
tensions  whatever.  It  is  supposed  however  to  be  fairly 
representative  of  the  gate  of  the  same  name  mentioned 
by  Nehemiah  (Neh.  iii :  13  ;  xii :  31). 

In  the  south  wall  of  the  Haram  area  there  are  three 
closed  gates.  Of  these  the  Double  Gate  is  the  most 
westerly,  and  is  undoubtedly  a  relic  of  the  Temple  of 
Herod.  It  has  two  entrances,  now  closed,  each  eighteen 
feet  wide,  whence  there  was  formerly  a  vaulted  passage 
ascending  to  the  Temple  Mount.  Over  the  former  open¬ 
ings  are  two  ornamental  arches,  not  belonging  to  the 
structure  but  fastened  to  it  with  iron  clamps  $  and  above 
them  are  heavy  lintels,  cracked  by  the  weight  of  the 
masonry  above  and  now  supported  by  columns.  Next 
is  the  Triple  Gate,  with  three  openings  now  closed  by  a 
slight  wall,  which  formerly  gave  entrance  to  three  parallel 
passages  now  choked  with  rubbish.  Furthest  east  is  the 
Single  Gate,  of  comparatively  modern  date,  which  led 
into  the  subterranean  vaults  called  Solomon’s  Stables. 

The  East  Wall  runs  directly  north,  and  in  that  part  of 
it  which  encloses  the  Haram  there  is  a  closed  gate  called 
the  Golden  Gate.  The  Arabs  call  it  Bab  ed-Dahcriyeh , 
or  the  Eternal  Gate  j  also,  Bab  et-Tobeh ,  or  the  Gate  of 
Repentance  j  and  Bab  er-Bameh ,  or  the  Gate  of  Mercy. 
The  Moslems  have  a  traditional  prophecy  that  on  some 
fore-doomed  Friday,  the  Moslem  Sabbath,  when  the 


474 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


faithful  are  engaged  in  prayer,  a  Christian  conqueror  is 
to  enter  Jerusalem  through  this  gate  and  take  possession 
of  the  city.  From  a  mistaken  supposition  that  this  is 
the  Beautiful  Gate  (of  the  inner  court)  of  the  Temple 
mentioned  in  Acts  iii :  2,  the  Greeks  called  it  Thyra 
Horaia ,  that  is,  the  Beautiful  Gate.  By  a  second  and 
curious  mistake  the  Latins  mistook  Horaia  (Beautiful) 
for  Aurea  (Golden),  whence  the  usual  Christian  name  of 
The  Golden  Gate.  In  its  present  form  it  probably  dated 
from  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian  era ;  but  its 
resemblance  to  the  Double  Gate  on  the  south  side  is  re¬ 
markable,  and  may  suggest  that  it  is  the  successor  of  the 
Gate  Shushan  of  the  Herodian  Temple  mentioned  in  the 
Talmud.  In  the  time  of  the  Crusades  the  Golden  Gate 
used  to  be  opened  for  a  few  hours  on  Palm  Sunday  and 
on  the  Festival  of  the  Raising  of  the  Cross.  On  Palm 
Sunday  a  great  procession  took  place  in  honor  of  the 
Saviour’s  triumphant  entry  into  Jerusalem,  and  the  people 
strewed  palm  branches  in  the  way  of  the  Patriarch  as  he 
entered  the  City  by  the  Golden  Gate. 

Just  above  Birket  Israil,  the  Pool  of  Bethesda,  is  Bab 
el-Asbat  or  the  Gate  of  the  Tribes,  which  is  also  called  by 
the  Arabs  Bab  Sitti  Mariam  or  the  Gate  of  the  Lady 
Mary,  but  which  Christians  call  St.  Stephen’s  Gate.  Like 
most  of  the  gates  of  Jerusalem  it  is  situated  in  an  angle. 
The  doors  are  mounted  with  iron.  Over  the  entrance 
are  two  lions  in  half-relief  hewn  in  stone.  In  the  guard- 
room  within,  a  u  footprint  of  Christ  ”  is  shown. 

In  the  north  wall  are  two  gates,  the  so-called  Gate  of 
Herod,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  northeast  angle,  and 
the  Damascus  Gate,  about  midway  between  the  east  and 
west  ends  of  the  wall.  Herod’s  Gate,  which  the  Arabs 


. 


. 


■ 


■  -  S:' 


" 


_ 


\ 


THE  ENVIBONS  OF  JEBUSALEM. 


475 


call  Bab  ez-Zahiri  or  the  Gate  of  Flowers,  was  formerly 
called  St.  Stephen’s  Gate,  and  a  church  dedicated  to  St. 
Stephen  was  erected  near  by  to  commemorate  the  death 
of  the  first  martyr  and  mark  the  place  where  he  was 
stoned.  The  church  has  wholly  disappeared  and  the 
name  St.  Stephen  was  long  ago  transferred  to  the  Bab 
Sitti  Mariam. 

By  far  the  handsomest  gate  of  Jerusalem  is  Bab 
el-Amud ,  or  the  Gate  of  the  Columns,  commonly  called 
the  Damascus  Gate.  It  is  built  in  an  irregular  angular 
form  and  is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  architecture  of  the 
sixteenth  century.  Properly  speaking  it  consists  of  two 
gate  towers,  and  it  takes  its  name  of  Bab  el  Amud  from 
the  slender  columns  on  either  side  which  support  a  pointed 
gable.  An  inscription  on  the  gable  records  that  the  gate 
was  built  by  Soliman  in  the  year  944  of  the  Hegira  ;  but 
excavations  have  ascertained  that  it  stands  on  the  site  of 
a  more  ancient  gate. 

About  one  hundred  yards  east  of  the  Damascus  Gate 
is  the  entrance  to  a  cave  or  grotto  called  the  Cotton 
Grotto,  of  vast  size  and  of  great  antiquity,  which  extends 
to  a  distance  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  feet  under  the 
streets  and  houses  of  Bezetha,  sloping  from  the  entrance 
to  a  depth  of  more  than  one  hundred  feet.  Strange  to 
say,  this  excavation  was  not  discovered  until  1852,  and 
its  history  is  quite  unknown.  It  is  evidently  an  ancient 
quarry.  u  You  still  see  clearly  the  size  and  form  of  the 
masons’  and  hewers’  tools,  for  the  marks  of  the  chisel  and 
the  pick  are  as  fresh  as  if  the  quarriers  and  the  stone¬ 
cutters  had  just  left  their  work.  They  appear  to  have 
been  associated  in  gangs  of  five  or  six  j  each  man  making 
a  cutting  perpendicularly  in  the  rock  four  inches  broad 


476 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


till  lie  had  reached  the  required  depth ;  after  which, 
wedges  of  timber  driven  in  and  wetted  forced  off  the 
mass  of  stone  by  swelling.  It  is  touching  to  see  that 
some  blocks  have  been  only  half  cut  away  from  their 
bed,  like  the  great  stone  at  the  quarry  of  Baal-bec  or  the 
enormous  obelisk  in  the  granite  quarries  of  Assouan.” 
Shreds  of  pottery,  fragments  of  utensils,  and  skeletons 
of  men  who  died  probably  three  thousand  years  ago 
were  found  in  the  grotto  when  it  was  discovered  j  and 
niches  in  the  rock,  with  blackened  spots  above  them,  still 
remain  to  show  where  a  feeble  light  enabled  the  “  slaves 
of  the  lamp  ”  to  prosecute  their  subterranean  labor.  In 
all  probability  it  was  from  this  quarry  that  Solomon  ob¬ 
tained  the  huge  stones  of  the  Temple  wall  and  of  the 
Temple  itself.  We  are  told  that  it  “was  built  of  stone 
made  ready  before  it  was  brought  thither :  so  that  there 
was  neither  hammer  nor  axe  nor  any  tool  of  iron  heard 
in  the  house,  while  it  was  in  building  ”  (1  Kings  vi :  7)  j 
and  the  vast  quantities  of  chips  and  fragments  of  stone 
found  in  the  Cotton  Grotto  show  that  the  stones  taken 
thence  were  dressed  before  being  removed.  It  is  pitiful 
to  think  of  the  toil  and  wretchedness  of  the  workmen — 
probably  slaves — who  lived  and  died  in  darkness  that 
Solomon  in  all  his  glory  might  rear  his  temple  to  Jehovah. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS. 

Within  the  walls  modern  Jerusalem  is  divided  into 
five  parts.  The  most  prominent  of  course  is  the  Haram 
esh- Sheriff  the  Noble  Sanctuary,  which  includes  the  whole 
of  Mount  Moriah,  and  corresponds  more  or  less  exactly 
with  the  Temple  area  of  the  time  of  Christ.  Its  lofty 
platform  is  supported  wholly  on  the  east  and  mostly  on 
the  south  by  the  city  wall,  and  on  the  north  and  west  by 
walls  of  equal  strength.  The  rest  of  the  city  is  divided 
into  four  Quarters  occupied  respectively  by  Mohammedans 
and  Jews,  and  by  Armenians  and  other  Christians. 

From  the  Jaffa  Gate,  David  Street  runs  eastward 
through  the  city  to  the  principal  entrance  of  the  Haram, 
which  is  called  Sab  es-Silsileh,  the  Gate  of  the  Chain. 
Another  street,  called  the  Street  of  the  Damascus  Gate, 
runs  from  the  Damascus  Gate  due  south  to  David  Street ; 
and  almost  from  their  point  of  intersection  a  third  street, 
called  the  Street  of  the  Gate  of  David,  runs  south  to  Zion 
Gate.  Thus  the  inhabited  part  of  Jerusalem  is  divided 
into  four  unequal  Quarters ;  on  the  southwest  is  the  Ar¬ 
menian  Quarter;  on  the  southeast  is  the  Jewish  Quarter; 
on  the  northwest  is  the  Christian,  or  Frankish,  Quarter; 
the  rest,  on  the  north,  the  west  and  the  northwest  of  the 
Haram  is  the  Mohammedan  Quarter. 

The  Jewish  Quarter  is  the  filthiest  and  most  wretched 

(477  ) 


478 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


part  of  a  very  filthy  city,  and  although  some  of  its  occu¬ 
pants  are  rich,  for  the  most  part  the  Jews  of  Jerusalem 
are  extremely  poor.  Nearly  all  are  foreigners  in  the 
land  of  their  forefathers,  and  have  come  to  Jerusalem  to 
die  and  be  buried  in  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat.  The 
motive  which  has  brought  many  of  them  is  that  of  deep 
religious  feeling ;  in  many  others  it  is  a  superstitious  be¬ 
lief  that  unless  they  are  buried  in  the  Valley  of  Jehosh¬ 
aphat,  which  they  believe  to  be  the  place  of  final  judg¬ 
ment,  they  will  have  to  journey  thither  underground  from 
any  other  place  in  which  their  bodies  may  be  laid.  In  a 
few  cases  the  motive  is  remorse  for  sin  and  a  desire  to 
expatiate  its  guilt  by  lives  of  ascetic  devotion  in  the 
Holy  City.  The  aspect  and  demeanor  of  the  Jews  is 
dejected  and  sorrowful.  Their  religious  duties  are  per¬ 
formed  with  pharisaical  punctiliousness.  Every  rabbini¬ 
cal  tradition  is  observed.  Schools  are  kept  open  all  the 
night  for  the  study  of  the  law.  At  all  hours  of  the  day 
men  may  be  found  in  the  synagogues  absorbed  in  the 
mysteries  of  the  Talmud.  The  daily  evening  services 
and  sermons  in  the  synagogues  are  largely  attended.  The 
Sabbath  is  rigidly  observed  and  the  yearly  fasts  and  fes¬ 
tivals  are  faithfully  solemnized.  On  the  last  day  of  the 
Jewish  year,  which  occurs  in  the  month  of  September, 
they  rise  three  hours  before  sunrise  to  engage  in  an  office 
of  penitence,  in  which  every  Israelite  submits  his  back 
to  a  castigation  of  forty  stripes  save  one,  and  at  every 
blow  these  two  verses  from  the  Book  of  Proverbs  are  re¬ 
cited,  u  My  son,  despise  not  the  chastening  of  the  Lord ; 
neither  be  weary  of  his  correction :  for  whom  the  Lord 
loveth  He  correcteth  j  even  as  a  father  the  son  in  whom 
he  delighteth”  (Prov.  iii :  11?  12).  The  Passover  and 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  479 


other  festivals  are  celebrated  with  expressions  of  the 
utmost  delight.  At  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles  booths  are 
erected  out  of  doors  and  on  the  house-tops.  At  certain 
times  the  services  in  the  synagogues  are  almost  or  quite 
tumultuous,  the  whole  congregation  leaping,  dancing, 
singing,  shouting  and  shrieking  with  a  joy  which  seems 
to  be  hysterical,  after  which  they  stream  forth  and  per¬ 
ambulate  their  poor  streets  in  procession,  bearing  the 
Roll  of  the  Law  in  their  midst.  Such  occasions  however 
are  exceptional.  The  ordinary  life  of  the  Jews  is  aus¬ 
tere  to  sadness.  Only  the  younger  people  who  have 
been  born  there  are  bright  and  cheerful  j  the  general 
appearance  of  the  elder  is  that  of  men  who  mournfully 
realize  that  they  are  strangers  in  their  own  land  and 
dwelling  in  one  filthy  quarter  of  the  once  splendid  city 
of  their  forefathers. 

Forbidden  as  they  are  to  enter  the  precincts  of  the 
Haram,  which  was  formerly  the  glorious  enclosure  of  the 
Temple,  they  purchased  many  years  ago  and  at  a  great 
price  the  melancholy  privilege  of  kissing  the  stones  of 
the  ancient  Temple  wall  at  a  place  not  far  from  the  Dung 
Gate,  and  now  well  known  as  the  Jews*  Wailing  Place. 
There  every  Friday,  and  on  other  days  as  well,  they  can 
be  seen,  clothed  in  their  quaint  garb,  bewailing  the  de¬ 
parted  glory  of  Israel  and  the  Holy  City.  They  recite 
with  sorrowful  appropriateness  the  Seventy-ninth  Psalm : 

O  God,  the  heathen  are  come  into  thine  inheritance  ; 

Thy  Holy  Temple  have  they  defiled  ; 

They  have  made  Jerusalem  an  heap  of  stones  ! 

Under  their  feet  seventy  feet  of  rubbish  have  been 
heaped  above  the  street  which  once  skirted  the  Temple 


480 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


wall ;  but  they  love  to  lean  against  the  courses  of  ma¬ 
sonry  that  are  still  above  ground ;  and  as  they  meditate 
they  sit  down,  book  in  hand,  and  intone  litanies  of  touch¬ 
ing  tenderness  and  poesy.  One  of  them  begins  with 
these  lines : 

For  tlie  Palace  that  lies  waste, 

We  sit  in  solitude  and  weep  ! 

For  the  Temple  that  is  overthrown, 

We  sit  in  solitude  and  weep  ! 

For  the  walls  that  are  cast  down, 

We  sit  in  solitude  and  weep  ! 

For  the  mighty  stones  that  are  turned  to  dust, 

We  sit  in  solitude  and  weep  ! 

For  our  glory  that  is  clean  vanished  away, 

We  sit  in  solitude  and  weep  ! 

Here  and  elsewhere  in  the  Holy  Land  the  Jews  are  of 
two  classes,  the  Ashkenazim  and  the  Sephardim.  The 
Ashkenazim  are  mostly  Poles  and  Germans,  and  are 
under  the  protection  of  their  respective  consuls  5  the 
Sephardim  are  from  Spain  and  Portugal,  and  speak  a 
corrupt  dialect  of  Spanish  but  are  Turkish  subjects. 
These  two  classes  of  Jews  have  separate  places  of  wor¬ 
ship,  but  their  numerous  synagogues  are  not  remark¬ 
able. 

The  extreme  southeastern  part  of  the  Jewish  Quarter, 
near  the  Dung  Gate,  is  occupied  by  the  Moors,  and  sur¬ 
passes  even  the  rest  of  the  quarter  in  filth.  In  this  dis¬ 
trict,  and  only  about  fifteen  yards  from  the  southwest 
corner  of  the  Haram  wall,  is  Robinson’s  Arch,  so  called 
from  Dr.  Robinson,  its  discoverer.  It  is  part  of  an  im¬ 
mense  bridge,  fifty  feet  in  width,  which  once  spanned  the 
Tyropeon  Valley  and  united  the  Temple  platform  with 
Mount  Zion.  It  contains  stones  of  ten  and  twenty-six 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  481 


feet  in  length,  but  unfortunately  only  three  courses  are 
now  distinguishable,  and  excavations  made  on  the  oppo¬ 
site  side,  anciently  called  Xystus ,  have  not  yet  discov¬ 
ered  the  corresponding  part  of  the  bridge. 

As  its  name  denotes,  the  Armenian  Quarter  is  chiefly 
though  not  exclusively  occupied  by  Christians  of  the  Ar¬ 
menian  Church.  The  garden  belonging  to  the  Armenian 
Monastery  runs  all  along  the  west  wall  of  the  city  from 
the  barracks  to  the  southwest  angle,  and  thence  eastward 
to  the  Gate  of  Zion $  but  to  this  beautiful  enclosure  visit¬ 
ors  are  rarely  admitted,  and  then  with  great  reluctance. 
In  going  northward  from  Zion  Gate  to  David  Street  along 
the  narrow  Armenian  Street  we  first  pass  the  Armenian 
Hospice  on  the  right,  northeast  of  which,  on  the  sup¬ 
posed  site  of  the  House  of  Annas,  is  an  Armenian  Nun¬ 
nery.  North  of  these  is  the  great  Armenian  Monastery 
in  which  the  Patriarch  of  that  rite  has  his  residence. 
The  church  is  built  on  the  spot  where  St.  James  the 
Great,  to  whom  it  is  dedicated,  is  said  to  have  been  be¬ 
headed.  Its  walls  are  lined  with  porcelain  tiles,  and  it 
contains  some  pictures  of  little  merit. 

North  of  the  Armenian  buildings,  east  of  the  Tower 
of  David,  probably  on  the  site  of  Herod’s  Palace  and 
his  famous  garden,  is  the  Palace  of  the  English  Bishop, 
and  near  by  are  Christ  Church  and  its  Clergy  House. 
Adjacent  to  the  Citadel  is  the  English  Hospital.  These 
buildings  were  erected  at  an  enormous  expense  on  ac¬ 
count  of  the  depth  of  rubbish  to  be  removed  before  a 
solid  foundation  could  be  reached.  Shafts  had  to  be 
sunk  thirty-nine  feet  before  the  rock  was  found,  and  the 
contents  of  the  foundation  of  the  church  alone  amount 
to  70,000  cubic  feet  of  masonry.  This  and  other  similar 


482 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


facts  go  to  prove  that  there  was  originally  in  this  part  of 
Zion  a  deep  ravine  running  down  to  the  Valley  of  Gihon. 

In  Jerusalem,  and  generally  throughout  the  East,  the 
Armenian  community  is  small  and  wealthy.  The  means 
of  their  people  permitting  them  to  travel,  the  number  of 
Armenian  pilgrims  to  the  Holy  City  is  large  in  compari¬ 
son  with  the  number  of  the  adherents  of  their  communion. 
Their  spacious  monastery  furnishes  them  with  ample 
accommodations  in  u  a  fair  place  ”  on  the  Hill  of  Zion, 
the  fairest  place  indeed  of  all  Jerusalem. 

The  Mohammedan  Quarter  is  nearly  as  large  as  the 
other  three  together,  but  it  is  by  no  means  exclusively 
occupied  by  Mohammedans.  It  contains  several  mosques, 
barracks  for  cavalry  and  for  infantry,  the  public  prison, 
and  the  official  residence  of  the  Pasha.  In  the  Street  of 
the  Damascus  Gate,  which  divides  the  Mohammedan 
from  the  Christian  Quarter,  are  the  principal  bazaars. 
Its  most  notable  antiquity  is  Wilson’s  Arch,  but  to  Chris¬ 
tians  by  far  the  most  interesting  object  in  this  Quarter 
is  the  Via  Dolorosa  or  Way  of  Sorrows,  along  part  of 
which  it  is  as  certain  as  it  well  can  be  that  our  Saviour 
passed  on  his  way  from  the  judgment-seat  of  Pilate  to 
the  place  of  his  crucifixion.  After  indicating  the  locality 
of  most  of  the  places  just  mentioned  we  may  dwell  a 
little  more  at  length  on  the  bazaars  and  the  Via  Dolorosa. 

At  the  eastern  end  of  David  Street,  directly  under  the 
Gate  of  the  Haram,  called  the  Gate  of  the  Chain,  is 
Wilson’s  Arch,  which  once  afforded  a  passage  across  the 
Tyropeon  between  the  Temple  and  Mount  Zion.  This 
bridge,  though  now  buried  under  fifty-five  feet  of  rubbish, 
is  absolutely  perfect.  Its  masonry  is  of  the  same  char¬ 
acter  as  that  of  the  foundation  wall  of  the  Haram,  and  is 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  483 


undoubtedly  of  the  age  of  Herod.  Like  Robinson’s 
Arch  it  springs  from  the  foot  of  the  Haram  wall,  and  as 
its  stones  are  of  the  same  character,  it  may  be  inferred 
that  Robinson’s  Arch  was  either  a  copy  or  duplicate  of 
this.  Its  span  is  forty-two  feet,  semicircular  and  perfect, 
composed  of  twenty-five  courses  or  tiers,  twelve  on  each 
side  of  the  keystone.  u  It  is  by  far  the  most  impressive 
specimen  of  Roman  architecture  yet  discovered  in  Jeru¬ 
salem.”  The  descent  to  it  is  troublesome,  and  the  space 
within  the  arch  can  be  satisfactorily  illuminated  only  with 
calcium  or  magnesium  lights. 

Somewhat  to  the  northwest  of  the  Gate  of  the  Chain 
is  the  Hammam  esh-Shifa ,  already  mentioned  (p.  264)  as 
the  conjectured  Pool  of  Bethesda.  Due  north  of  the 
same  bridge  are  the  cavalry  barracks,  west  of  which  is 
the  Pasha’s  residence  $  and  adjacent  to  the  west  wall  of 
the  Haram  at  its  northern  end  is  the  prison. 

The  bazaars  of  Jerusalem  are  situated  in  the  Street  of 
the  Damascus  Gate  and  extend  from  David  Street  north¬ 
ward.  They  are  simply  three  arched  lanes  lighted  only 
from  the  top.  The  western  lane  is  occupied  by  butchers’ 
stalls,  the  proprietors  of  which  noisily  proclaim  the  merits 
and  cheapness  of  their  meats  to  every  possible  purchaser. 
In  the  other  lanes  every  sort  of  merchandise  may  be 
found,  but  in  no  great  abundance  or  variety.  The  shops 
are  tumble-down  concerns,  mere  holes  in  the  arched  sides 
of  the  lanes,  somewhat  resembling  rough  cupboards  raised 
a  couple  of  feet  from  the  ground.  Within  they  are  rough, 
unplastered  and  innocent  of  paint.  In  these  dens  the 
merchants  sit  cross-legged  at  their  ease  with  their  wares 
in  front  of  them ;  fruiterers,  oil,  grain  and  leather  mer¬ 
chants,  with  shoemakers,  cobblers,  tailors,  embroiderers, 


484 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


saddlers,  cotton-cleaners,  tinsmiths,  pipe-borers  and  profes¬ 
sional  letter-writers.  Silks  from  Damascus  and  Alex>po, 
prints  and  calico  from  Manchester,  colored  muslin  veils 
from  Switzerland  and  Constantinople,  and  beads  from 
Hebron  allure  the  women  j  cutlery,  hardware,  arms,  sad¬ 
dlery,  pipes  and  fragrant  tobacco  attract  the  men  j  and 
the  ubiquitous  grocer,  with  raisins,  dates  and  other  dried 
fruits,  rice  from  Egypt  and  the  Jordan,  flour  from  Galilee, 
olives,  Pistachio  nuts,  walnuts,  honey,  salt,  pepper  and 
spices,  is  ready  to  supply  the  inward  wants  of  all  sorts 
and  conditions  of  men.  At  certain  times  of  the  day 
these  narrow  lanes  are  thronged  by  a  motley  multitude 
from  every  part  of  the  world.  The  noise  of  the  shop¬ 
men  crying  their  wares,  and  the  cheapening  and  chaffer¬ 
ing  of  customers  is  almost  deafening  $  the  air  is  fetid  j 
and  under  foot  the  ground  is  slippery  with  filth.  To  go 
shopping  in  Jerusalem  is  not  the  endless  delight  that 
ladies  find  it  in  more  western  lands. 

To  an  intelligent  Christian  the  Via  Dolorosa  is  one  of 
the  most  deeply  interesting  and  affecting  of  all  the  sacred 
places  of  the  Holy  City.  Though  not  a  stone  now  stand¬ 
ing  on  either  side  of  it  may  have  been  there  when  Jesus 
walked  upon  this  earth,  and  though  every  foot  of  it  is 
covered  deep  with  rubbish,  so  that  modern  Jerusalem  is 
almost  literally  the  grave  of  the  ancient  city,  yet  it  is 
certain  that  somewhere  along  the  line  of  the  Via  Dolorosa 
He  must  often  have  passed ;  and  wherever  may  have 
been  the  place  of  his  crucifixion — unless,  indeed,  as  Fer¬ 
guson  conjectures,  it  was  on  the  very  site  of  the  Mosque 
of  Omar, — it  was  over  some  part  of  the  Via  Dolorosa 
that  He  went  forth  from  the  court  of  Pilate  bearing  the 
cross  on  which  He  was  to  die.  On  the  other  hand,  so 


MODERN  JEEUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  485 


many  superstitious  myths  have  been  connected  with  all 
parts  of  this  street  that  its  solemn  sacredness  is  marred 
by  the  vulgarity  of  idle  and  senseless  superstitions,  and 
in  passing  through  it,  pity  and  disgust  contend  with 
veneration. 

Entering  the  city  by  St.  Stephen’s  Gate  we  are  at  once 
in  the  Via  Dolorosa ;  on  the  right  is  the  Church  of  St. 
Anna,  dedicated  to  the  mother  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
which  was  presented  in  1856  by  the  Sultan  Abdul 
Medjid  to  Napoleon  III ;  on  the  left  is  the  Pool  of  Beth- 
esda.  Going  westward  with  the  Pool  of  Bethesda  on 
our  left,  we  come  to  the  Turkish  infantry  barracks  at  the 
west  end  of  the  north  wall  of  the  Haram,  standing  prob¬ 
ably  on  the  former  site  of  the  Tower  of  Antonia  and  the 
Prsetorium  of  Pilate.  A  chapel  within  the  barracks  is 
supposed  to  mark  the  First  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  whence  Jesus  set  out  to  u  the  place  called  Gol¬ 
gotha.”  The  Second  Station,  where  the  cross  was  laid 
upon  him,  is  located  at  the  foot  of  the  steps  leading  into 
the  barracks. 

Immediately  beyond  the  barracks,  but  on  the  right,  is 
the  convent  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Sisters  of  Zion,  in 
which  one  hundred  and  twenty  young  girls  are  educated. 
Here,  adjoining  a  church  which  is  built  partly  into  the 
rock,  an  arch  called  the  Ecce  Homo  Arch  crosses  the 
street,  and  is  supposed  to  mark  the  spot  where  Pilate 
uttered  the  words,  u  Behold  the  Man !”  (John  xix  :  5). 
This  is  the  Third  Station.  The  Ecce  Homo  Arch  is  un¬ 
doubtedly  modern.  In  1856  Dr.  Robinson  was  assured 
by  residents  of  the  city  that  it  had  been  erected  within 
their  own  time.  Yet  it  probably  stands  on  the  founda¬ 
tions  of  a  former  arch  of  the  time  of  Hadrian,  which 


486 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


may  have  had  more  than  one  intervening  successor. 
Not  a  stone  of  the  arch  was  there  when  Pilate  said, 
u  Behold  the  Man !”  and  yet  the  Roman  governor’s 
weak  attempt  to  commend  Jesus  to  the  pity  of  his  per¬ 
secutors  by  exhibiting  him  before  them  in  the  depth  of 
his  humiliation  must  have  been  made  not  very  far  from 
the  spot. 

From  the  Ecce  Homo  Arch  the  Via  Dolorosa  descends 
a  short  distance  to  the  Street  of  the  Valley,  which  runs  in 
a  generally  southeasterly  direction  from  the  Damascus 
Gate  to  the  Dung  Gate  ;  and  for  a  little  way  the  Via 
Dolorosa  coincides  with  Valley  Street.  Turning  there¬ 
fore  sharply  to  the  southeast  we  presently  have  on  our 
right  the  traditional  House  of  the  Poor  Man  Lazarus,  and 
just  beyond  it  the  Fourth  Station,  where  our  Saviour  is 
said  to  have  met  his  mother. 

A  few  steps  beyond  the  Fourth  Station  the  Via  Dolo¬ 
rosa  once  more  turns  westward,  and  at  the  left-hand 
corner  we  have  the  House  of  the  Rich  Man  Dives. 
Here  is  the  Fifth  Station,  where  Simon  of  Cyrene  took 
up  the  cross  under  which  Jesus  had  fainted.  A  stone 
built  into  the  house  next  to  that  of  Dives  has  a  depres¬ 
sion  said  to  have  been  made  by  the  hand  of  Jesus ! 

From  the  Valley  Street  westward  the  Via  Dolorosa 
begins  to  ascend,  and  about  one  hundred  steps  from  the 
Fifth  Station  we  come  to  the  Sixth,  where  St.  Veronica  is 
said  to  have  wiped  the  sweat  from  the  brow  of  our 
Saviour  as  He  passed,  and  to  have  received  as  her  reward 
the  inestimable  boon  of  a  portrait  of  his  countenance 
imprinted  on  her  handkerchief. 

Still  ascending  to  the  street  of  the  Damascus  Gate,  we 
find  at  its  nearest  corner  on  our  right  the  Porta  Judi - 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  487 


ciaria ,  which  is  the  Seventh  Station,  near  which  Jesus 
fell  a  second  time. 

Diagonally  opposite,  and  therefore  on  the  left,  and  in 
the  Christian  Quarter,  is  the  Hospice  of  St.  John,  and 
thirty  paces  beyond  its  entrance,  at  a  hole  in  the  stone 
of  the  Greek  monastery  of  St.  Caralombos,  is  the  Eighth 
Station,  where  Jesus  addressed  the  weeping  women  of 
Jerusalem,  bidding  them  to  weep  not  for  him  but  for 
themselves  and  their  children. 

The  Ninth  Station  is  not  far  off,  in  front  of  the  Coptic 
Monastery  5  and  there  our  Saviour  is  said  to  have  sunk 
again  under  the  weight  of  the  cross — which  Simon  of 
Cyrene  was  bearing ! 

The  last  five  stations  are  within  the  Church  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre.  The  Tenth  is  where  He  was  stripped 
for  crucifixion  5  the  Eleventh,  where  the  nails  were  driven 
into  his  hands  and  feet ;  the  Twelfth,  where  the  cross  was 
raised ;  the  Thirteenth,  where  He  was  taken  down  from 
the  cross ;  the  F ourteenth  is  the  Holy  Sepulchre  itself. 

We  may  dismiss  these  stations  and  the  vain  traditions 
connected  with  them  without  further  remark. 

The  Via  Dolorosa  is  not  a  street  in  the  European  or 
American  sense  of  that  word.  To  use  the  words  of  Bart¬ 
lett,  the  author  and  artist,  u  The  pavement  is  rugged  as  a 
mountain  road,  and  prison-like  walls  on  either  side  are 
only  pierced  here  and  there  by  a  small  doorway  or  grated 
window  or  jalousie.  At  twilight  the  overhanging  arch¬ 
ways  are  involved  in  utter  darkness ;  and  unless  pro¬ 
vided  with  a  lantern,  it  is  difficult  to  grope  one’s  way 
without  treading  on  a  sleeping  dog  or  coming  into  violent 
collision  with  some  invisible  passenger.”  Nevertheless, 
and  notwithstanding  the  puerility  of  the  traditions  con- 


488 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


nected  with  it,  we  cannot  but  feel  with  Mr.  Bartlett  that 
the  Via  Dolorosa  is  u  the  most  gloomily  impressive  street 
within  the  precincts  of  this  melancholy  city.” 

More  than  one  long  chapter  might  easily  be  devoted 
to  churches  and  monasteries,  Greek,  Latin,  Abyssinian 
and  Coptic,  in  the  Christian  Quarter  of  Jerusalem.  We 
must  be  content  to  mention  only  the  chief  points  of 
interest. 

Entering  the  city  at  the  Jaffa  Gate  and  going  eastward 
along  David  Street,  we  pass  two  streets  on  the  left,  then 
a  short  lane  or  wynd,  then  Christian  Street,  and  at  last 
come  to  the  Street  of  the  Damascus  Gate,  which  is  the 
eastern  boundary  of  the  Quarter.  The  first  of  these 
streets  runs  northwest  to  the  Latin  Patriarchate,  which 
is  situated  near  the  wall,  between  the  Tower  of  Goliath 
and  the  Jaffa  Gate.  The  second  leads  to  the  Casa  Nova 
of  the  Franciscans. 

Christian  Street  has  the  best  shops  in  Jerusalem.  At 
its  northern  end,  less  than  three  hundred  yards  from 
David  Street,  it  is  crossed  by  a  continuation  of  the  Via 
Dolorosa.  Walking  through  it  from  David  Street,  we 
have  successively  on  our  left  the  Pool  of  Hezekiah,  the 
Coptic  Khan,  the  great  monastery  of  the  Greeks,  and 
the  residence  of  their  Patriarch,  and  on  the  right  the 
Muristan  and  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

The  Muristan  is  an  open  space,  full  of  ruins,  measur¬ 
ing  one  hundred  and  seventy  yards  east  and  west  by  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  north  and  south,  once  covered 
by  the  famous  Hospital  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John  of 
Jerusalem.  The  beginning  of  that  famous  order  was  the 
charity  of  a  few  humble  monks  attached  to  a  church 
built  A.  D.  1048  by  Italian  merchants  in  honor  of  St. 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  489 


J ohn,  Patriarch  of  Alexandria.  These  poor  monks,  from 
their  devoted  care  of  sick  pilgrims,  were  soon  recognized 
as  a  separate  order,  and  were  called  the  Johnites  or 
Brothers  of  the  Hospital.  Later  on  they  were  constituted 
an  Order  of  Clerical  Monks,  some  of  whom  were  detailed 
for  military  service  j  others  for  spiritual  functions ;  and 
others  as  serving  brothers  to  escort  pilgrims,  to  provide 
for  their  entertainment  and  to  nurse  them  when  sick. 
Their  great  Hospice  was  founded  in  1120  j  its  arched 
halls  were  supported  by  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
noble  columns ;  and  many  thousands  of  sick,  wounded 
and  helpless  sufferers  have  been  tenderly  cared  for  within 
its  walls.  The  fame  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  and  the 
renown  of  their  exploits  in  Palestine,  Cyprus,  Rhodes 
and  Malta,  soon  rang  through  the  world  j  but  perhaps,  if 
all  were  known,  the  martial  deeds  of  the  military  monks 
were  not  more  glorious  than  the  humbler  ministrations  of 
the  serving  brothers  in  the  Hospice  of  St.  John.  When 
the  Christian  kingdom  of  Jerusalem  was  overthrown,  the 
noble  buildings  fell  into  decay.  Nothing  but  ruins  is  left 
of  them.  Less  than  twenty  years  ago  even  the  ruins 
were  concealed  by  heaps  of  indescribable  filth.  In  1869 
the  Sultan  made  a  present  of  the  Muristan  to  the  Prus¬ 
sian  government.  It  is  said  that  he  had  previously  made 
a  present  of  it  to  the  French  government  !  Neither  of 
them  however  seemed  to  care  much  for  the  gift  until 
after  the  battle  of  Sedan,  when  the  French  Consul  at 
Jerusalem  thought  it  might  be  well  to  raise  the  French 
flag  over  the  property.  Accordingly  he  repaired  to  the 
spot  for  that  purpose,  and  found  to  his  chagrin  and  dis¬ 
may  that  the  Prussian  flag  had  just  been  raised  over  it 
by  the  Crown  Prince  Frederick,  afterward  Emperor. 


490 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


The  Prussians  had  the  Muristan  thoroughly  cleansed  of 
the  filth  with  which  it  was  covered,  leaving  the  ruins  to 
tell  their  own  tale  of  departed  grandeur.  Where  the 
building  formerly  stood  may  now  be  seen  fragments  of 
columns  eloquent  in  their  decay,  patches  of  flowering 
beans,  straggling  branches  of  prickly  pear,  and  here  and 
there  a  few  scattered  fig  trees.  The  entrance  is  through 
a  gateway  surmounted  with  the  Prussian  eagle,  over  the 
arch  of  which  there  once  were  carvings  of  the  seasons, 
now  defaced,  representing  groups  of  sowers,  reapers, 
pruners,  threshers  and  other  agricultural  laborers.  On 
the  east  side  of  the  Muristan,  a  name  which  signifies 
Hospital  and  keeps  alive  the  fragrant  memory  of  its 
early  history,  is  a  Prussian  church,  school,  hospital  and 
parsonage.  At  the  southwest  corner  is  the  Greek  mon¬ 
astery  of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  On  the  west  side  is  the 
Bath  of  the  Patriarch,  Hammam  el-BatraJc  (p.  263).  On 
the  north  is  a  mosque  named  in  honor  of  Omar  and  the 
Greek  monastery  of  Gethsemane. 

North  of  the  Muristan  is  the  most  interesting  building 
in  the  Christian  Quarter, — to  hundreds  of  millions  of 
Christians  the  most  sacred  building  in  the  world — the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  Properly  told,  its  history 
would  be  the  history  of  Christianity  from  the  fourth 
century  to  the  present  time.  It  has  witnessed  those  vast 
changes  -which  have  altered  the  face  of  Europe  and  Asia 
from  the  time  when  Roman  legions  could  be  sent  from 
Britain  to  Parthia  until  now,  when  an  old  man  in  the 
V atican  is  the  only  visible  link  connecting  ancient  Rome 
with  modern  Italy.  Around  it  have  been  marshalled 
armies  from  the  east  and  from  the  west.  Emperors  of 
Rome  and  Byzantium,  Caliphs  of  Bagdad  and  Damascus, 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  491 


Sultans  of  Egypt,  Crusader  Kings,  Saracen  heroes  and 
Turkish  marauders  have  in  turn  ravaged  and  adorned  it. 
Christian  sects — Creek,  Syrian,  Homan  and  Armenian — 
have  intrigued  and  fought  for  the  possession  of  it.  Stand¬ 
ing  as  a  witness  to  the  great  facts  of  a  universal  faith,  it 
has  been  desecrated  by  the  blood  of  Christians  shed  by 
Christian  hands,  and  to  this  very  day  the  supposed  scene 
of  Christ’s  resurrection  is  yearly  profaned  by  a  pretended 
miracle. 

We  have  here  to  do  with  hardly  any  of  these  high 
topics  of  history.  For  the  present  purpose  a  brief  sketch 
of  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  must  suffice.  Per¬ 
haps  we  ought  rather  to  say  the  Churches  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  for  at  least  four  have  successively  stood  on 
substantially  the  same  spot,  and  the  present  edifice  is 
really  a  double  building,  including  Avithin  one  area  the 
Sanctuary  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  a  crusading  church 
over  the  supposed  scene  of  the  Crucifixion,  and  two  other 
minor  chapels. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Sepulchre  cannot  possibly  be  on  the  true  spot  of  the  en¬ 
tombment  of  Christ  unless,  in  the  time  of  Christ,  its 
site  was  outside  the  north  wall  of  Jerusalem.  The  walls 
of  the  city  were  wholly  demolished  by  Titus,  and  the  line 
!  of  the  north  wall  cannot  now  be  certainly  ascertained. 
Some  topographers  positively  maintain  that  it  corre¬ 
sponded  in  certain  parts,  especially  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Damascus  Gate  and  Herod’s  Gate,  with  the  pres¬ 
ent  north  wall.  Others  as  positively  maintain  that  its 
course  must  have  been  on  the  north  of  the  Hill  of  Zion 
at  the  line  of  the  west  branch  of  the  Tyropeon  Valley 
(p.  220),  which  would  leave  the  site  of  the  Church  of  the 


492 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


Holy  Sepulchre  without  the  wall.  Perhaps  the  strongest 
evidence  in  favor  of  the  latter  theory  is  the  fact  that  on 
the  north  of  the  church  the  rubbish  is  of  much  less 
depth  than  on  the  south,  which  would  naturally  be  the 
case  if  the  second  wall  ran  south  of  the  spot.  However 
that  may  be,  there  is  no  evidence  whatever  that  this  place 
was  connected  with  the  Sepulchre  of  Christ  by  any  early 
Christian  tradition ;  and  the  story  of  the  u  Invention  ” 
or  discovery  of  the  True  Cross  (p.  241)  implies  that  its 
discovery  there  was  unexpected  as  well  as  miraculous. 
The  first  Church  of  the  Sepulchre  was  called  the  Anas- 
tasis ,  or  Church  of  the  Resurrection,  and  was  erected 
in  336.  It  was  an  octagonal  rotunda  in  which  were 
twelve  statues  of  the  Apostles  surrounding  the  Sepulchre, 
and  at  the  east  was  a  lofty  colonnade.  At  the  same  time 
and  to  the  east  of  the  Anastasis  was  erected  the  Basilica 
of  the  Cross  over  the  supposed  site  of  Golgotha,  with 
open  courts  on  the  north  and  south  and  with  a  fore-court 
and  propylseon  or  pillared  porch  covering  the  entrance  to 
three  grand  portals  on  the  east.  The  view  of  these 
buildings  from  the  Mount  of  Olives  must  have  been  mag¬ 
nificent. 

The  Anastasis  and  Basilica  of  Constantine  were  de¬ 
stroyed  by  the  Persians  in  614,  and  between  616  and 
626  they  were  replaced  by  Modestus,  Abbot  of  the  Mon¬ 
astery  of  Theodosius,  with  three  buildings — the  Anasta¬ 
sis,  or  Church  of  the  Resurrection  j  the  Martyrion,  or 
Church  of  the  Cross  $  and  the  Church  of  Calvary.  In  the 
following  fifty  years  a  fourth,  the  Church  of  St.  Mary,  was 
added  on  the  south,  but  these  buildings  were  much  infe¬ 
rior  to  the  previous  buildings  of  Constantine.  In  936 
and  again  in  969  they  were  partly  destroyed  by  fire,  and 


MODEBN  JEKUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  493 


in  1010  they  were  desecrated  and  almost  destroyed  by 
the  Moslems. 

In  1055  a  substantially  new  church  was  erected,  and 
in  1099  the  dome  of  the  Sepulchre  was  solemnly  entered 
by  the  Crusaders  walking  barefoot  and  chanting  appro¬ 
priate  psalms  and  litanies. 

This  edifice  however  was  not  sufficiently  magnificent 
for  the  Crusaders,  and  early  in  the  twelfth  century  one 
large  church  was  built,  including  the  Sepulchre  and  all 
the  other  chapels  under  one  roof.  In  outline  it  was  sub¬ 
stantially  the  same  as  the  present  building,  but  it  has 
passed  through  so  many  vicissitudes  and  has  had  so  many 
additions  and  alterations  that  it  cannot  be  recognized  as 
belonging  architecturally  to  that  age.  In  1187  it  was 
damaged  by  the  Arabs,  and  in  1244  the  Sepulchre  was 
destroyed  by  the  Kharezmians  j  but  before  1310  it  had 
been  magnificently  restored,  and  not  much  later  two 
domes  were  added  to  that  of  the  Sepulchre.  In  the  fol¬ 
lowing  centuries  the  dome  of  the  Sepulchre  became  dan¬ 
gerously  insecure,  and  in  1719  it  was  restored  and  the 
greater  part  of  the  church  was  rebuilt,  but  not  without 
violent  opposition  from  the  Moslems.  In  1808  occurred 
a  great  disaster.  The  whole  building  was  almost  entirely 
burned  down ;  the  dome  fell  in  and  crushed  the  Chapel 
of  the  Sepulchre ;  the  columns  of  the  rotunda  cracked  j 
the  lead  on  the  roof  melted  and  ran  into  the  interior ; 
hardly  anything  was  saved  except  the  eastern  part  of  the 
building.  Among  other  losses,  the  sarcophagi  of  the 
Crusading  Kings  of  Jerusalem,  including  that  of  Godfrey 
de  Bouillon,  which  had  been  deposited  under  the  spot 
where  the  Cross  is  said  to  have  stood,  disappeared.  The 
Greeks  now  secured  the  chief  right  to  the  edifice,  and 


494 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


with  the  aid  of  the  Armenians  they  reared  the  present 
structure.  It  was  designed  by  a  certain  Komnenus  Kalfa 
of  Constantinople,  who  religiously  preserved  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  previous  edifice. 

After  this  brief  sketch  of  the  history  of  the  Church 
of  the  Sepulchre  we  may  now  examine  its  details,  re¬ 
membering  always  that  it  includes  four  once  separate 
parts,  the  Dome  over  the  Chapel  of  the  Sepulchre,  the 
Crusader’s  Church  of  the  Cross,  the  Chapel  of  Helena — 
where  the  Cross  was  found, — and  the  Calvary. 

The  entrance  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  is 
from  the  south,  through  a  quadrangle  or  fore-court  which 
is  several  steps  below  the  street  and  not  quite  level.  To 
the  right  and  left  of  the  court  are  chapels  of  no  great 
importance. 

The  first  door  on  the  right  opens  into  a  long  passage 
which  goes  round  the  chambers  and  offices  used  by  Greek 
pilgrims,  and  at  its  end  a  flight  of  eighteen  steps  leads  to 
a  small  chapel,  in  the  centre  of  which  a  round  hollow 
marks  the  spot  on  which  Abraham  laid  Isaac  for  sacrifice. 

The  second  door  on  the  right  of  the  court  leads  to  the 
Armenian  Chapel  of  St.  James,  and  the  third  into  the 
Coptic  Chapel  of  the  Archangel  Michael,  both  of  which 
are  dark  and  uninteresting. 

On  the  left  or  west  side  of  the  court  are  three 
chapels.  The  first  of  these,  dedicated  to  St.  James,  the 
Brother  of  our  Lord,  is  handsomely  fitted  up.  The 
second  is  dedicated  to  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  and  is  said 
to  be  on  the  spot  where  our  Saviour,  according  to  tradi¬ 
tion,  appeared  to  Mary  for  the  third  time.  The  third  is 
in  the  lowest  story  of  the  Tower,  and  is  called  the  Chapel 
of  the  Forty  Martyrs. 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  495 


The  tower  which  originally  adjoined  the  church  is  now 
incorporated  on  different  levels  with  the  old  Chapel  of  St. 
John  and  the  rotunda  of  the  Sepulchre.  In  its  four  sides 
are  large  Gothic  window-arches,  and  above  them  were 
formerly  two  rows  of  small  Gothic  windows,  of  which 
only  one  has  been  preserved.  Though  the  upper  part  of 
the  tower  has  been  destroyed  the  remainder  is  extremely 
interesting,  since  it  is  the  only  part  of  the  structure 
which  undoubtedly  dates  from  the  Crusades.  It  was 
built  between  1160  and  1180. 

The  south  fa9ade  of  the  church  on  the  right  of  the 
tower  is  not  imposing.  It  has  two  portals  built  up  with 
Gothic  arches,  one  of  them  so  depressed  as  to  be  almost 
in  the  form  of  a  horseshoe.  In  the  space  between  the 
doors  and  the  arches  are  sculptures  in  bas-relief. 

Entering  by  the  portal  on  the  left,  we  pass  through 
the  place  of  the  Turkish  guard,  where  the  soldiers 
may  usually  be  found  regaling  themselves  with  pipes  and 
coffee.  Here,  down  to  the  present  century,  every  pil¬ 
grim  was  compelled  to  pay  a  heavy  tax  to  the  Turkish 
government. 

Passing  the  guard,  we  reach  the  Stone  of  Unction,  on 
which  the  body  of  Jesus  was  laid  by  Nicodemus  and  Joseph 
of  Arimathsea,  when  they  u  wound  it  in  linen  clothes,’7  u  as 
the  manner  of  the  Jews  is  to  bury,”  with  “  a  mixture  of 
myrrh  and  aloes,  about  an  hundred  pound  weight”  (John 
xix  :  39,  40).  Before  the  Crusades  the  Church  of  St.  Mary, 
which  was  somewhat  to  the  south  of  this  spot,  was  supposed 
to  cover  the  place  of  the  Anointment  *,  but  when  all  the  Holy 
places  connected  with  the  Sepulchre  were  enclosed  within 
one  building,  the  tradition  was  accommodated  to  archi¬ 
tectural  necessities.  The  Stone  has  often  been  changed. 


496 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


and  in  different  ages  has  been  in  custody  of  different  re¬ 
ligious  communities.  It  is  still  regarded  with  the  utmost 
veneration,  and  in  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  customary  for 
pilgrims  to  measure  it  with  a  view  to  having  their  shrouds 
made  of  the  same  length.  The  present  stone,  which  was 
placed  here  in  1808,  is  a  reddish-yellow  marble  slab, 
over  which  Greeks,  Latins,  Armenians  and  Copts  are 
entitled  to  burn  their  lamps.  Beside  it  are  candelabra 
of  immense  size. 

About  sixteen  paces  to  the  left  of  the  Stone  of  Unction 
is  a  small  enclosure  round  a  stone  supposed  to  mark  the 
spot  where  the  women  stood  and  witnessed  the  anoint¬ 
ment  of  the  body  of  Jesus. 

Advancing  a  few  paces  northward  wre  enter  the  rotunda 
of  the  Sepulchre  in  the  centre  of  which  and  under  the 
apex  of  the  dome  is  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
The  dome,  which  is  open  at  the  top,  is  sixty-five  feet  in 
diameter  and  is  supported  by  eighteen  piers. 

At  the  low  door  on  the  east  of  the  chapel  the  orienta 
Christians  usually  remove  their  shoes  before  entering  the 
vestibule  which  is  called  the  Angel’s  Chapel.  Its  walls 
are  very  thick  and  are  encrusted  within  and  without 
with  marble.  In  the  centre  is  a  stone  set  in  marble 
which  is  said  to  be  the  very  stone  which  the  angel  rolled 
away  from  the  Sepulchre  and  on  which  he  afterward  sat. 
A  fragment  of  the  same  stone  is  said  to  be  built  into  the 
altar  on  the  place  of  the  Crucifixion.  In  this  chapel 
fifteen  lamps  are  kept  burning,  five  of  which  belong  to 
the  Greeks,  five  to  the  Latins,  four  to  the  Armenians  and 
one  to  the  Copts. 

Through  a  still  lower  door  we  enter  the  Grotto  or 
Chapel  of  the  Sepulchre,  properly  so  called,  which  is 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  497 


only  six  and  a  half  feet  long,  six  feet  wide  and  very 
low.  The  roof  is  borne  by  marble  columns,  and  from 
the  ceiling  are  suspended  forty-three  precious  lamps, 
of  which  four  belong  to  the  Copts  and  the  rest  are 
equally  apportioned  among  the  other  three  sects.  In  the 
centre  of  the  north  wall  is  a  relief  in  white  marble  repre¬ 
senting  the  Saviour  rising  from  the  Tomb,  and  on  the 
same  side,  to  the  right  of  the  entrance,  is  the  marble 
tombstone,  five  feet  long,  two  feet  wide,  and  about  three 
feet  high,  on  which  mass  is  celebrated  daily.  Immedi¬ 
ately  to  the  west  of  the  Grotto  of  the  Sepulchre  is  a 
small  chapel  which  has  belonged  to  the  Copts  since  the 
sixteenth  century. 

In  the  gloomy  recesses  around  the  rotunda  only  two 
places  are  of  interest,  the  plain  Chapel  of  the  Syrians  or 
Jacobites  in  the  niche  at  the  extreme  west,  adjacent  to 
which  are  the  u  tombs  ”  of  Nicodemus  and  Joseph  of 
Arimathsea. 

Leaving  the  rotunda  on  the  north  we  come  to  the 
place  where  Jesus  appeared  in  the  garden  to  Mary 
Magdalene.  The  spot  on  which  Jesus  stood  is  indicated 
by  a  marble  ring;  the  place  of  Mary  is  marked  by 
another  ring.  This  sacred  spot  belongs  to  the  Latins, 
whose  altar  is  on  the  east  and  opens  into  the  Chapel 
of  the  Apparition,  where  tradition  has  it  that  our 
Saviour  appeared  to  his  mother.  Immediately  to  the 
right  of  the  entrance  to  this  chapel  is  an  altar  within 
which  a  fragment  of  the  Column  of  the  Scourging  is  said 
to  be  preserved.  As  we  leave  the  chapel  we  have  on 
our  left  the  Latin  sacristy,  in  which  the  sword,  the 
spurs  and  the  cross  of  Godfrey  de  Bouillon  are  shown. 

They  are  still  used  in  the  ceremony  of  admitting  knights 

32 


498 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


into  the  Order  of  the  Sepulchre,  which  has  existed  from 
the  time  of  the  Crusades  5  but  they  are  of  doubtful  gen¬ 
uineness.  The  spurs  are  eight  inches  long 5  the  sword 
is  two  feet  eight  inches  long,  and  has  a  simple  hilt  five 
inches  long  in  the  form  of  a  cross. 

We  now  leave  the  rotunda  of  the  Sepulchre  and  enter 
the  old  Church  of  the  Crusaders,  passing  under  the  lofty 
Arch  of  the  Emperors  directly  east  of  the  entrance 
to  the  Sepulchre,  where  we  find  a  Greek  chapel  called 
the  Catholicon  thirty-nine  yards  in  length  and  lav¬ 
ishly  ornamented.  At  the  southeast  corner  of  the  choir 
is  the  Seat  of  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  and  at 
the  northeast  corner  seats  for  other  Patriarchs  5  and 
in  front  of  this  entrance  is  a  fragment  of  a  column 
which  is  supposed  to  mark  the  centre  of  the  world !  As 
is  usual  in  Greek  churches,  the  High  Altar  is  sepa¬ 
rated  from  the  choir  by  the  Holy  Veil.  Behind  it  is 
the  throne  of  the  Patriarch. 

Passing  into  the  north  aisle  we  find  at  the  north¬ 
east  angle  a  dark  chapel  containing  an  altar,  under 
which  are  said  to  be  footprints  of  Christ.  These  are 
questionably  shown  through  two  round  holes  in  the  altar. 
Behind  this  chapel  is  another  called  the  Prison  of 
Christ,  where  the  Saviour  was  kept  bound  while  the 
cross  was  preparing. 

In  the  apse  of  the  church,  behind  the  Bema  or  Sanc¬ 
tuary  of  the  Catholicon,  we  find  three  recesses.  The 
first  is  called  the  Chapel  of  Longinus,  the  soldier  who 
pierced  the  Lord’s  side.  According  to  an  early  tradi¬ 
tion,  some  of  the  blood  and  water  spurted  into  one  of 
his  eyes  which  was  blind  and  restored  his  sight,  where¬ 
upon  he  instantly  became  a  Christian.  The  Latins  do 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  499 


not  receive  this  tradition,  and  their  processions  do  not 
stop  before  the  Chapel  of  Longinus.  In  the  centre  of 
the  apse  is  the  Armenian  Chapel  of  the  Parting  of 
Christ’s  Raiment;  and  beyond  it,  in  the  niche  corre¬ 
sponding  with  that  of  the  Chapel  of  Longinus  is  the 
Chapel  of  the  Derision  or  the  Crowning  with  Thorns. 
Here  we  are  shown  the  Column  of  the  Derision  to  which 
Christ  was  bound  during  the  mockery  of  the  Roman 
soldiers. 

Between  the  two  chapels  last  named  a  stairway  of 
twenty-five  steps  descends  to  the  Chapel  of  Helena. 
An  altar  on  the  northeast  is  dedicated  to  the  peni¬ 
tent  thief;  the  altar  in  the  middle  to  the  Empress 
Helena.  On  the  right  a  chair  is  shown  in  which  the 
Empress  sat  during  the  search  for  the  Cross. 

A  flight  of  thirteen  more  steps  leads  into  the  Chapel 
of  the  Invention  (discovery)  of  the  Cross.  It  is  entirely 
modern.  Mass  was  said  in  it  for  the  first  time  in  1857. 

We  have  now  only  to  visit  Golgotha.  To  reach  it  we 
mount  the  stairs,  turn  to  the  left  and  walk  round  the  apse 
of  the  church  southward  until  we  reach  a  passage  on  the 
left  which  leads  to  Golgotha,  fifteen  feet  above  the 
Church  of  the  Sepulchre.  There  we  find  a  chapel 
called  the  Chapel  of  the  Raising  of  the  Cross,  belonging 
to  the  Greeks.  It  is  forty-two  feet  long  and  fifteen  feet 
wide,  and  in  the  apse  is  shown  the  hole  of  the  Cross, 
an  opening  faced  with  silver,  in  which  the  Cross  is  said 
to  have  been  inserted.  On  either  side,  five  feet  distant 
from  the  Cross  of  the  Redeemer,  are  the  places  where 
the  two  thieves  were  crucified.  That  on  the  north  is  the 
place  of  the  penitent.  Less  than  five  feet  from  the  Cross 
of  Jesus  is  the  rent  in  the  rocks  mentioned  in  Matthew 


500 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


xxvii :  51.  It  is  covered  with  brass  grating,  above  which 
is  a  slide  of  the  same  metal.  This  chapel  is  sumptuously 
ornamented  with  paintings  and  mosaics. 

In  an  adjoining  chapel  is  the  supposed  place  of  the 
nailing  of  the  cross,  and  separated  from  this  chapel 
only  by  two  pillars  is  another  much  smaller  and  simpler 
chapel  belonging  to  the  Latins,  which  is  called  the  Chapel 
of  Mary  or  the  Chapel  of  the  Agony.  It  is  only 
thirteen  feet  long  and  nine  and  a  half  wide,  but  is  richly 
decorated.  The  altar-piece  represents  Christ  on  the 
knees  of  his  mother. 

We  again  descend  the  stairway  to  a  chapel  imme¬ 
diately  under  the  Chapel  of  the  Raising  of  the  Cross. 
This  is  called  the  Chapel  of  Adam.  Here,  according  to 
tradition,  Adam  was  buried,  and  here  his  body  rested 
until  the  Crucifixion,  when  the  blood  of  Jesus,  trickling 
down  the  miraculous  rent  in  the  rocks,  touched  his  head 
and  restored  him  to  life.  A  cleft  in  the  rock  correspond¬ 
ing  to  that  in  the  chapel  above  attests  to  the  truth  of  the 
legend.  It  is  said  that  from  this  tradition  comes  the 
usual  painting  of  a  skull  at  the  foot  of  the  cross. 

However  much  we  may  dislike  the  superstitious  tra¬ 
ditions  attached  to  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
and  however  thoroughly  we  may  be  persuaded  that  it 
does  not  cover  the  place  of  our  Lord’s  death,  burial  and 
resurrection,  it  is  hardly  possible  for  a  Christian  to  visit 
it  without  becoming  so  saturated  with  the  thoughts  which 
it  suggests  as  to  be  moved  to  involuntary  veneration. 
The  most  resolute  Protestants  have  felt  the  influence  and 
confessed  the  spell  it  has  thrown  over  them  j  and  it  is  re¬ 
markable  that  many  persons  who  have  maturely  pro¬ 
nounced  against  the  genuineness  of  the  site  of  the  Sepul- 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  501 


chre  have  gradually  changed  their  opinion  after  a  long 
residence  in  Jerusalem.  In  such  cases  it  is  surely  not 
the  wish  nor  the  judgment,  but  the  mysterious  influence 
of  association  which  is  father  to  their  ultimate  convic¬ 
tion. 

The  ceremonies  of  the  oriental  and  Latin  Christians 
at  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre  are  endless  alike  in  num¬ 
ber  and  variety.  Some  of  the  least  edifying  have  been 
gradually  disused.  In  former  times  the  Latin  Patriarch 
used  to  represent  on  Palm  Sunday  the  entry  of  Christ 
u  riding  on  an  ass  and  a  colt,  the  foal  of  an  ass.”  Now 
the  Latins  send  to  Gaza  for  palms  which  are  blessed  on 
that  day  and  distributed  to  the  people.  On  Maunday 
Thursday  the  ceremony  of  u  washing  the  feet  ”  is  per¬ 
formed  by  the  Latins,  and  on  the  corresponding  day  of 
the  Greek  calendar  the  Greeks  perform  a  similar  rite. 
The  most  disgraceful  performance  in  which  the  Latins 
once  participated  is  now  confined  to  the  Greeks  alone.  It 
is  the  reception  of  the  Holy  Fire  which  is  supposed  to  be 
sent  from  heaven  into  the  Sepulchre  on  every  Easter 
Eve.  Dean  Stanley’s  description  is  so  striking  that  with 
it  we  may  close  our  account  of  this  wonderful  temple : 

u  The  time  is  the  morning  of  Easter  Eve,  which  by  a 
strange  anticipation  here,  as  in  Spain,  eclipses  Easter 
Sunday.  The  place  is  the  great  rotunda  of  the  nave, 
the  model  of  all  the  circular  churches  of  Europe,  espe¬ 
cially  that  of  Aix-la-Chapelle.  Above  is  the  great  dome 
with  its  rents  and  patches  waiting  to  be  repaired,  and  the 
sky  seen  through  the  opening  in  the  centre,  which  here, 
as  in  the  Pantheon,  admits  the  light  and  air  of  day.  Im¬ 
mediately  beneath  are  the  galleries,  in  one  of  which,  on 
the  northern  side — that  of  the  Latin  convent — are  assem- 


502 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


bled  the  Frank  spectators.  Below  is  the  Chapel  of  the 
Sepulchre — a  shapeless  edifice  of  brown  marble  j  on  its 
shabby  roof  a  meagre  cupola,  tawdry  vases  with  tawdry 
flowers,  and  a  forest  of  slender  tapers ;  whilst  a  blue 
curtain  is  drawn  against  its  top  to  intercept  the  rain  ad¬ 
mitted  through  the  dome.  It  is  divided  into  two  chapels — 
that  on  the  west  containing  the  Sepulchre,  that  on  the  east 
containing  ( the  Stone  of  the  Angel.’  Of  these,  the  east¬ 
ern  chapel  is  occupied  by  the  Greeks  and  Armenians. 
On  its  north  side  is  a  round  hole  from  which  the  Holy 
Fire  is  to  issue  for  the  Greeks.  A  corresponding  aper¬ 
ture  is  on  the  south  side  for  the  Armenians.  At  the 
western  extremity  of  the  Sepulchre,  but  attached  to  it 
from  the  outside,  is  the  little  wooden  chapel,  the  only 
part  of  the  church  allotted  to  the  poor  Copts  j  and  further 
west,  but  parted  from  the  Sepulchre  itself,  is  the  still 
poorer  chapel  of  the  still  poorer  Syrians,  happy  in  their 
poverty  however  for  this,  that  it  has  probably  been  the 
means  of  saving  from  marble  and  decoration  the  so-called 
tombs  of  Joseph  and  Nicodemus,  which  lie  in  their  pre¬ 
cincts,  and  on  which  rest  the  chief  evidence  of  the  genu¬ 
ineness  of  the  whole  site. 

u  The  Chapel  of  the  Sepulchre  rises  from  a  dense  mass 
of  pilgrims  who  sit  or  stand  wedged  around  it ;  whilst 
round  them,  and  between  another  equally  dense  mass 
which  goes  round  the  walls  of  the  church  itself,  a  lane  is 
formed  by  two  lines,  or  rather  two  circles,  of  Turkish 
soldiers  stationed  to  keep  order.  For  the  spectacle  which 
is  about  to  take  place  nothing  can  be  better  suited  than 
the  form  of  the  rotunda,  giving  galleries  above  for  the 
spectators  and  an  open  space  below  for  the  pilgrims  and 
their  festival.  For  the  first  two  hours  everything  is 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  503 


tranquil.  Nothing  indicates  what  is  coming  except  that 
the  two  or  three  pilgrims  who  have  got  close  to  the  aper¬ 
ture  keep  their  hands  fixed  in  it  with  a  clench  never  re¬ 
laxed.  It  is  about  noon  that  this  circular  lane  is  suddenly 
broken  through  by  a  tangled  group  rushing  violently 
round  till  they  are  caught  by  one  of  the  Turkish  soldiers. 
It  seems  to  be  the  belief  of  the  Arab  Greeks  that  unless 
they  run  round  the  Sepulchre  a  certain  number  of  times 
the  fire  will  not  come.  Possibly  also  there  is  some  strange 
reminiscence  of  the  funeral  games  and  races  round  the 
tomb  of  an  ancient  chief.  Accordingly,  the  night  before 
and  from  this  time  forward  for  two  hours  a  succession  of 
gambols  takes  place  which  an  Englishman  can  only  com¬ 
pare  to  a  mixture  of  prisoner’s  base,  football  and  leap¬ 
frog  round  and  round  the  Holy  Sepulchre.  First  he  sees 
these  tangled  masses  of  twenty,  thirty,  fifty  men  starting 
in  a  run,  catching  hold  of  each  other,  lifting  one  of  them¬ 
selves  on  their  shoulders,  sometimes  on  their  heads,  and 
rushing  on  with  him  until  he  leaps  off,  and  some  one  else 
succeeds ;  some  of  them  dressed  in  sheepskins,  some 
almost  naked  j  one  usually  preceding  the  rest  as  a  fugle¬ 
man,  clapping  his  hands,  to  which  they  respond  in  like 
manner,  adding  also  wild  howls,  of  which  the  chief  burden 
is  ‘This  is  the  Tomb  of  Jesus  Christ — God  save  the 
Sultan — Jesus  Christ  has  redeemed  us !’  What  begins 
in  the  lesser  groups  soon  grows  in  magnitude  and  extent 
till  at  last  the  whole  of  the  circle  between  the  troops  is 
continuously  occupied  by  a  race,  a  whirl,  a  torrent  of 
these  wild  figures,  like  the  Witches’  Sabbath  in  ‘Faust,’ 
wheeling  round  the  Sepulchre.  Gradually  the  frenzy 
subsides  or  is  checked ;  the  course  is  cleared,  and  out  of 
the  Greek  church  on  the  east  of  the  rotunda  a  long  pro- 


504 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


cession  with  embroidered  banners,  supplying  in  their 
ritual  the  want  of  images,  begins  to  defile  round  the 
Sepulchre. 

u  From  this  moment  the  excitement,  which  has  before 
been  confined  to  the  runners  and  dancers,  becomes  uni¬ 
versal.  Hedged  in  by  the  soldiers,  the  two  huge  masses 
of  pilgrims  still  remain  in  their  places,  all  joining  how¬ 
ever  in  a  wild  succession  of  yells,  through  which  are 
caught  from  time  to  time  strangely,  almost  affectionately, 
mingled  the  chants  of  the  procession — the  solemn  chants 
of  the  Church  of  Basil  and  Chrysostom,  mingled  with 
the  yells  of  savages.  Thrice  the  procession  paces  round  j 
at  the  third  time  the  two  lines  of  Turkish  soldiers  join 
and  fall  in  behind.  One  great  movement  sways  the 
multitude  from  side  to  side.  The  crisis  of  the  day  is  now 
approaching.  The  presence  of  the  Turks  is  believed  to 
prevent  the  descent  of  the  fire,  and  at  this  point  it  is  that 
they  are  driven,  or  consent  to  be  driven,  out  of  the 
church.  In  a  moment  the  confusion,  as  of  a  battle  and  a 
victory,  pervades  the  church.  In  every  direction  the 
raging  mob  bursts  in  upon  the  troops,  who  pour  out  of 
the  church  at  the  southeast  corner — the  procession  is 
broken  through,  the  banners  stagger  and  waver.  They 
stagger  and  waver  and  fall  amidst  the  flight  of  the 
priests,  bishops  and  standard-bearers  hither  and  thither 
before  the  tremendous  rush.  In  one  small  but  compact 
band  the  Bishop  of  Petra  (who  is  on  this  occasion  the 
Bishop  of  1  the  Fire/  the  representative  of  the  Patriarch) 
is  hurried  to  the  Chapel  of  the  Sepulchre,  and  the  door 
is  closed  behind  him.  The  whole  church  is  now  one 
heaving  sea  of  heads  resounding  with  an  uproar  which 
can  be  compared  to  nothing  less  than  that  of  the  Guild- 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  505 


liall  of  London  at  a  nomination  for  the  city.  One  vacant 
space  alone  is  left ;  a  narrow  lane  from  the  aperture  on 
the  north  side  of  the  chapel  to  the  wall  of  the  church. 
By  the  aperture  itself  stands  a  priest  to  catch  the  fire ; 
on  each  side  of  the  lane,  so  far  as  the  eye  can  reach, 
hundreds  of  bare  arms  are  stretched  out  like  the  branches 
of  a  leafless  forest — like  the  branches  of  a  forest  quiver¬ 
ing  in  some  violent  tempest. 

u  In  earlier  and  bolder  times  the  expectation  of  the 
Divine  presence  was  at  this  juncture  raised  to  a  still 
higher  pitch  by  the  appearance  of  a  dove  hovering  above 
the  cupola  of  the  chapel — to  indicate,  so  Maundrell  was 
told,  the  visible  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  extra¬ 
ordinary  act,  whether  of  extravagant  symbolism  or  of 
daring  profaneness,  has  now  been  discontinued ;  but  the 
belief  still  continues — -and  it  is  only  from  the  knowledge 
of  that  belief  that  the  full  horror  of  the  scene,  the  intense 
excitement  of  the  next  few  moments,  can  be  adequately 
conceived.  Silent — awfully  silent — in  the  midst  of  this 
frantic  uproar,  stands  the  Chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
If  any  one  could  at  such  a  moment  be  convinced  of  its 
genuineness,  or  could  expect  a  display  of  miraculous 
power,  assuredly  it  would  be  that  its  very  stones  would 
cry  out  against  the  wild  fanaticism  without  and  wretched 
fraud  within  by  which  it  is  at  that  hour  desecrated.  At 
last  the  moment  comes.  A  bright  flame  as  of  burning 
wood  appears  inside  the  hole — the  light;  as  every  edu¬ 
cated  Greek  knows  and  acknowledges,  kindled  by  the 
Bishop  within — the  light,  as  every  pilgrim  believes,  of 
the  descent  of  God  himself  upon  the  Holy  Tomb.  Any 
distinct  feature  or  incident  is  lost  in  the  universal  whirl 
of  excitement  which  envelopes  the  church  as,  slowly, 


506 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


gradually,  the  fire  spreads  from  hand  to  hand,  from  taper 
to  taper,  through  the  vast  multitude — till  at  last  the 
whole  edifice  from  gallery  to  gallery  and  through  the 
area  below  is  one  wide  blaze  of  thousands  of  burning 
candles.  It  is  now  that,  according  to  some  accounts,  the 
Bishop  or  Patriarch  is  carried  out  of  the  chapel  in  triumph 
on  the  shoulders  of  the  people  in  a  fainting  state,  1  to 
give  the  impression  that  he  is  overcome  by  the  glory  of 
the  Almighty,  from  whose  immediate  presence  he  is  be¬ 
lieved  to  come/  It  is  now  that  a  mounted  horseman, 
stationed  at  the  gates  of  the  church,  gallops  off  with  a 
lighted  taper  to  communicate  the  sacred  fire  to  the 
lamps  of  the  Greek  church  in  the  convent  at  Bethle¬ 
hem.  It  is  now  that  the  great  rush  to  escape  from  the 
rolling  smoke  and  suffocating  heat,  and  to  carry  the 
lighted  tapers  into  the  streets  and  houses  of  Jerusalem, 
through  the  one  entrance  to  the  church,  leads  at  times 
to  the  violent  pressure  which  in  1834  cost  the  lives  of 
hundreds.  For  a  short  time  the  pilgrims  run  to  and 
fro — rubbing  their  faces  and  breasts  against  the  fire 
to  attest  its  supposed  harmlessness.  But  the  wild  enthu¬ 
siasm  terminates  from  the  moment  that  the  fire  is  com¬ 
municated  ;  and  perhaps  not  the  least  extraordinary  part 
of  the  spectacle  is  the  rapid  and  total  subsidence  of  a 
frenzy  so  intense — the  contrast  of  the  furious  agitation 
of  the  morning  with  the  profound  repose  of  the  evening 
when  the  church  is  once  again  filled — through  the  area 
of  the  rotunda,  the  chapels  of  the  Copt  and  Syrian,  the 
subterranean  church  of  Helena,  the  great  nave  of  Con¬ 
stantine’s  basilica,  the  stairs  and  platform  of  Calvary 
itself,  with  the  many  chambers  above — every  part,  ex¬ 
cept  the  one  chapel  of  the  Latin  church,  filled  and  over- 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS. 


507 


laid  by  one  mass  of  pilgrims,  wrapt  in  deep  sleep  and 
waiting  for  the  midnight  service. 

u  Such  is  the  Greek  Easter — the  greatest  moral  argu¬ 
ment  against  the  identity  of  the  spot  which  it  professes 
to  honor — stripped  indeed  of  some  of  its  most  revolting 
features,  yet  still,  considering  the  place,  the  time,  and  the 
intention  of  the  professed  miracle,  probably  the  most 
offensive  imposture  to  be  found  in  the  world.” 

The  Haram  esh-Sherif J  the  Noble  Sanctuary,  is  one  of 
the  most  sacred  of  all  Mohammedan  holy  places,  ranking 
next  to  the  Kaaba  at  Mecca.  In  the  Koran  Mohammed 
himself  professes  to  have  visited  it,  and  on  that  account 
it  was  for  ages  protected  from  the  profane  footsteps  of 
any  man  who  was  not  a  Moslem.  Until  the  year  1854 
all  but  Moslems  were  rigidly  excluded ;  and  it  was  only 
at  the  peril  of  their  lives  that  Catherwood  and  Arundale 
succeeded  in  1833  in  making  the  first  accurate  measure¬ 
ments  of  the  Haram  and  its  edifices.  Since  the  Crimean 
war  travellers  have  been  readily  admitted,  except  at  the 
time  of  the  great  Mohammedan  festivals.  The  Jews, 
however,  have  never  sought  that  privilege,  lest  they 
might  ignorantly  commit  the  sin  of  treading  on  the  site 
of  u  the  Holy  of  Holies.” 

In  a  general  way  the  Haram  corresponds  with  the 
,  ancient  Temple  area,  but  there  is  no  certainty  concern¬ 
ing  the  details.  It  is  probable  however  that  the  Temple 
stood  somewhere  in  the  southwest  angle,  and  not  on  the 
spot  now  occupied  by  the  Kubbet  es-Scikhra ,  or  Dome  of 
the  Rock,  which  is  the  most  conspicuous  object  of  the 
Haram.  In  the  opinion  of  some  ingenious  topographers 
the  site  of  the  latter  building  was  not  even  included 
within  the  Temple  area,  but  was  altogether  without  the 


508 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


ancient  wall,  and  was  in  fact  the  place  of  the  Crucifixion 
and  Resurrection  of  Christ.  According  to  the  same 
theory,  which  is  not  without  plausibility,  the  Dome  of  the 
Rock,  and  not  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  occu¬ 
pies  the  site  of  the  Anastasis  or  Great  Church  of  the 
Resurrection  built  by  Constantine.  Into  the  discussion 
of  this  theory,  which  has  been  bitterly  opposed,  we  shall 
not  here  enter,  but  shall  confine  ourselves  to  a  brief  sur¬ 
vey  of  the  Haram  and  its  most  prominent  features. 

The  Haram  is  entered  on  the  north  by  three  gates  and 
on  the  west  by  seven,  of  which  the  principal  is  the  Bab 
es-Silseleh,  already  mentioned,  at  the  eastern  end  of 
David  Street.  Passing  that  gate  we  find  ourselves  in  an 
extensive  but  irregular  quadrangle,  measuring  on  the  east 
five  hundred  and  twelve  yards,  on  the  west  five  hundred 
and  thirty-six,  on  the  north  three  hundred  and  forty- 
eight,  and  on  the  south  three  hundred  and  nine.  It  is 
almost  level,  the  only  exception  being  at  the  northwest 
corner,  which  is  about  ten  feet  higher  than  the  other 
corners.  The  west  side  is  partly  flanked  with  houses 
under  which  are  open  arcades.  The  two  most  promi¬ 
nent  objects  of  the  Haram  are  the  Dome  of  the  Rock  and 
the  Mosque  el-AJcsa. 

The  rock  over  which  the  dome  is  built  is  not  mentioned 
in  Holy  Scripture,  and  it  cannot  be  the  threshing-floor 
of  Araunah  the  Jebusite  (2  Sam.  xxiv  :  16-25),  since  the 
Temple,  which  was  built  over  that  spot,  was  undoubtedly 
to  the  south  of  this  rock.  According  to  Jewish  and  Mos¬ 
lem  tradition  however  Melchizedek,  the  King  of  Salem, 
offered  sacrifice  upon  it  $  it  was  here  that  Abraham  was 
about  to  offer  up  his  son  Isaac,  and  the  rock  itself  was 
anointed  by  Jacob.  The  Ark  of  the  Covenant  once  stood 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  509 


here ;  here  it  was  concealed  by  the  Prophet  Jeremiah ; 
and  here,  beneath,  was  the  ShenihampJiorash ,  the  ineffable 
name  of  God,  which  Jesus  is  said  to  have  read,  and  by 
the  use  of  which  He  had  power  to  work  miracles.  Under 
the  rock  is  a  cavern  to  which  we  descend  by  eleven 
steps,  and  the  hollow  sound  under  foot  indicates  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  another  cave  beneath.  In  the  cavern  places 
are  shown  where  Abraham  and  Elijah  used  to  pray,  and 
where  Mohammed  left  the  mark  of  his  head  on  the  rocky 
ceiling.  Mohammed  declared  that  one  prayer  offered 
here  was  more  potent  than  a  thousand  offered  elsewhere, 
and  from  this  place  he  took  his  flight  to  heaven  on  his 
miraculous  steed,  El-Burak.  As  his  body  rose  heaven¬ 
ward,  it  pierced  in  the  ceiling  of  the  rock  a  round  hole, 
which  is  still  to  be  seen  and  is  probably  nothing  else  than 
the  opening  of  an  ancient  cistern  formerly  occupying  the 
place  of  the  present  cavern.  Ferguson  however  believes 
this  cavern  to  have  been  the  Sepulchre  of  Christ. 

Omitting  further  mention  of  the  innumerable  legends 
connected  with  the  rock  and  the  underlying  cavern,  we 
may  now  observe  the  edifice  which  stands  above  it  on  a 
platform  ten  feet  higher  than  the  rest  of  the  Haram. 
The  Kubbet  es-Sakhra  is  a  large  and  lofty  octagon,  each 
of  the  sides  measuring  sixty-six  feet  in  length.  The 
sides  were  once  covered  externally  with  marble,  but  the 
upper  part  is  now  encrusted  with  porcelain  plates,  which 
were  added  by  Soliman  the  Magnificent  in  1528.  On 
four  of  the  sides  are  gates  with  porticoes,  above  each  of 
which  are  six  windows ;  in  each  of  the  other  sides  are 
six  windows. 

The  interior  is  fifty-eight  yards  in  diameter,  and  is 
divided  into  three  concentric  parts  by  two  series  of  sup- 


510 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


ports.  The  first  series  consists  of  eight  piers  and  sixteen 
columns,  making  with  the  outer  wall  an  octagonal  aisle. 
A  second  and  wider  aisle,  if  it  can  properly  be  so  called, 
is  formed  by  a  second  row  of  supports,  on  which  rests 
the  dome  over  the  rock.  The  pavement  of  the  interior 
is  of  marble  mosaic,  covered  in  places  with  straw  mats. 
The  dome  is  sixty-five  feet  in  diameter  and  nearly  a  hun¬ 
dred  feet  high.  It  is  made  of  wood,  and  on  the  outside 
is  covered  with  lead.  The  inside  is  covered  with  tablets 
of  wood  painted  blue,  and  richly  adorned  with  painted 
and  gilded  stucco.  The  windows  admit  a  solemn  but  in¬ 
sufficient  light.  The  panes  are  not  painted,  but  are  com¬ 
posed  of  separate  pieces  of  variously  colored  glass,  set  in 
plaster  and  fastened  with  clamps  of  iron. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  Dome  of  the 
Rock  was  originally  a  Christian  church,  however  much 
it  may  have  been  changed  in  detail  in  later  centuries. 
It  produced  on  the  Crusaders  a  profound  impression,  and 
some  of  them  believed  it  to  be  the  veritable  Temple  of 
Solomon.  The  renowned  order  of  knighthood  founded 
here  was  called  the  Order  of  the  Temple,  and  the  Dome 
of  the  Rock  was  adopted  as  a  part  of  the  armorial  bear¬ 
ings  of  the  Knights  Templar.  The  plan  of  the  building 
was  carried  by  the  Templars  to  Europe,  and  churches  in 
Metz,  Laon  and  London  which  still  exist  owe  their  pecu¬ 
liar  form  to  the  model  of  the  Dome  of  the  Rock.  At 
Milan  its  polygonal  outline  is  reproduced  in  the  back¬ 
ground  of  RaphaePs  famous  Sposalizio  in  the  Brera. 

The  eastern  door  of  the  Kubbet  es-Sakhra  is  called 
Bab  es-Silseleh ,  or  Door  of  the  Chain,  which  is  not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  outer  gate  of  the  same  name  which 
opens  from  the  city  into  the  Haram.  The  Moslem  tra- 


MODERN  JERUSALEM  WITHIN  THE  WALLS.  511 


dition  is  that  a  chain  was  once  stretched  across  this  door 
by  Solomon,  or  perhaps  by  God  himself,  for  the  detec¬ 
tion  of  false  witnesses  ;  and  while  a  truthful  witness  could 
safely  grasp  it,  the  touch  of  a  perjurer  instantly  caused 
one  of  its  links  to  fall.  In  commemoration  of  this  mirac¬ 
ulous  test  a  building  called  Kubbet  es-Silseleh ,  the  Dome 
of  the  Chain,  and  also  called  Mehhmet  Daud ,  or  David’s 
Place  of  Judgment,  stands  in  front  of  Bab  es-Silseleh. 
It  is  an  elegant  little  pavilion,  consisting  of  two  concen¬ 
tric  rows  of  columns,  of  which  the  outer  forms  a  penta¬ 
gon  and  the  inner  a  hendecagon.  In  this  centre  rises  a 
hexagonal  drum  surrounded  by  a  dome  which  is  sur¬ 
mounted  with  a  crescent. 

At  the  southeast  corner  of  the  raised  platform  of  the 
dome  is  an  elegant  pulpit  of  marble,  recently  restored, 
where  sermons  are  preached  every  Friday  in  the  sacred 
month  of  Ramadin.  It  is  a  noble  specimen  of  Arabian 
art.  Below  the  flight  of  steps  which  rises  to  the  plat¬ 
form  on  the  west  is  an  elegant  fountain  structure  dating 
from  the  fifteenth  century.  In  the  east  wall  of  the  Haram 
is  the  closed  gate  called  the  Golden  Gate,  already  de¬ 
scribed  (p.  474),  and  north  of  it  is  a  modern  mosque 
called  the  Throne  of  Solomon,  from  a  legend  that  he  was 
found  dead  here.  It  is  said  that  in  order  to  conceal  his 
death  from  the  demons  who  had  been  in  subjection  to 
him,  Solomon  supported  himself  on  his  seat  with  his 
staff,  and  it  was  not  until  the  worms  had  gnawed  the 
staff  asunder  and  had  let  the  body  fall  that  the  demons 
knew  of  their  deliverance  from  Solomon’s  authority. 

At  the  southwest  of  the  Haram  is  the  great  Mosque 
el-Aksa,  a  very  complicated  pile  of  buildings  of  great  in¬ 
terest  to  the  architectural  antiquary,  and  having  at  its 


512 


THE  HOLY  LAND. 


southeast  corner  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  It  is  entered  by 
a  porch  of  seven  arcades,  opening  into  as  many  aisles  of 
the  main  building.  It  was  founded  by  the  Emperor  Jus¬ 
tinian  as  a  basilica  in  honor  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  It 
has  been  repeatedly  altered,  but  the  original  features  of 
the  basilica  can  still  be  traced.  It  has  many  legends 
attached  to  it,  but  the  only  sacred  historical  spot  it  con¬ 
tains  is  the  Double  Gate  (p.  473),  which  is  probably 
the  Huldah  Gate  of  the  Talmud.  Through  it  we  may 
safely  believe  that  our  Saviour  often  entered  the  Great 
Porch  (pp.  230,  473)  on  the  south  of  the  platform  of 
Herod’s  Temple. 

Here  we  leave  the  ever-sacred  precincts  of  the  Holy 
Temple.  After  our  long  journey  through  the  Holy 
Land  of  the  Holy  Life,  and  after  visiting  the  City 
of  the  Precious  Death  and  Burial  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  we 
quit  these  hallowed  scenes  the  last  point  on  which  our 
eyes  rest  is  the  crest  of  Olivet,  not  far  from  the  last  spot 
of  earth  on  which  the  Saviour’s  feet  stood  when  about 
to  make  his  glorious  Ascension. 


INDEX 


Abd  el  Mejid,  100 
Abdul  Medjid,  Sultan,  485 
Abel-Beth-Maacbah,  429 
Abel -Maim,  429 
Abel-sbittim,  189 
Abiatbar,  330,  332 
Abil,  429 
Abila,  182 

Abimelech,  102, 110,  364 
Abiuadab,  43 
Abishai,  71,  380 
Abner,  56,  96,  186 

Abraham,  18,  91,  98,  100,  102,  224, 
288,  342,  358  361,  371,  494,  508, 
509 

Abraham’s  Oak,  98 

Absalom,  19,  97,  179,  186,  208 

Accho,  402 

Aceldama,  447 

Acre,  137 

Adonijah,  330 

Adullam,  Cave  of,  71,  115,  282,  285 

Aelia  Capitolina,  241 

JEtius  Lyddensis,  47 

Agag,  333 

Agrippa  I.,  236 

Agur,  350 

Ahab,  103,  130,  145,  206, 324,  411 

A  In  o  r»  0^4 

Ahaziah,  130,  143,  146 

Ahiah,  339 

Ahimelech,  331 

Ai,  336,  337 

Ain  Duk,  204 

Ain-el-Barideh,  314 

Ain  el  Hod,  208 

Ain  el-Tin,  306 

Ain  es  Sultan,  199 

Ain-hajla,  197 

Ain  Jidi,  287 

Ain  Mudawarah,  303 

Ain  Sitti  Mariam,  Jerusalem, 

Ain  Umm  el  Derej,  Jerusalem,  260 
Ajalon,  50 
Akir,  116, 117 
Akka,  402 

Akra,  the,  Jerusalem,  220,  222 


Akrabbin,  355 

Alexander  the  Great,  105,  112,  233, 
413 

Altar  of  Incense,  Tabernacle,  226 
Amalekites,  139 
Amasa,  57 
Amaziah,  232 
Ammaus,  315 
Ammon,  oracle  of,  12 
Ammonites,  180,  284 
Amorites,  188 
Amos,  19,  196,  284 
Amwas,  41 
Anak,  91,  95 
Auakim,  94 

Ananias,  High  Priest,  237 
Anastasis,  492 
Anata,  330 
Anathoth,  44,  330 
Anchorites,  274 
Anderson,  Major,  383,  386 
Andrew,  296,  308 
Andromeda,  legend  of,  12 
“  Angel  to  the  Shepherds,”  73 
Angel’s  Chapel,  Jerusalem,  496 
Anna,  80,  459 
Annas,  High  Priest,  271 
Antigonus,  282 
Antiochus  II.,  234 
Antiochus  Epiphanes,  234 
Antiochus  the  Great,  404 
Antipas,  108 
Antipater,  106,  235 
Antonines,  186 
Antony,  199 
Aphek,  324 
Apostles’  Spring,  208 
Apple  of  Sodom,  205 
Aqueducts,  252 
Arabs,  203,  206 
Ararat,  372 

Araunah  the  Jebusite,  223,  508 
Arba,  91 
Arbela,  314 

Arch  of  the  Emperors,  Jerusalem, 
498 

Archelaus,  14, 108,  200 

33.,  (  513  ) 


514 


INDEX. 


Arimathma,  36 
Ark  of  God,  353 

Ark  of  the  Covenant,  42,  116,  226, 
508 

Armageddon,  143 
Armenian  Convent,  Joppa,  9 
Armenian  Monastery,  Jerusalem, 
481 

Armenian  Quarter,  Jerusalem,  481 

Aroer,  188 

Artaxerxes,  233 

Arundale,  Mr.,  507 

Asahel,  71 

Asaph,  228 

Ascalon,  112 

Ascalonites,  113 

Ashdod,  110,  113,  116 

Asker,  357,  385,  404 

Ashkelon,  110,  112 

Ashkenazim,  480 

Ashraf,  Sultan,  406 

Askalon,  112,  82,  83 

Astarte,  113,  415 

Ataroth-Addar,  341 

Athlit,  127 

Augustus,  Caesar,  13,  73,  369,  413, 
436 

Auranitis,  35 
Avim,  109 
Azekah,  54 
Azotus,  114 

Baal-Hermon,  433 

Bab  ed-Daheriyeh,  473 

Bab  el-Amud,  475 

Bab  el-Asbat,  474 

Bab  el-Khalil,  470 

Bab  el-Mugharibeh,  472 

Bab  en-Neby  Daud,  472 

Bab  er-Rameh,  473 

Bab  es-Silseleh,  477,  508,  510 

Bab  et-Tobeh,  473 

Bab  ez-Zahiri,  475 

Bab  Sitti  Mariam,  474 

Bacchides,  Syrian  general,  284 

“  Backsheesh,”  4,  473 

Baedeker,  236 

Bahr  Lut,  33 

Balaam,  83 

Baldwin,  I.,  89,  405,418 
Baldwin  III.,  423 
Baldwin,  IV.,  423 
Balthasar,  82 
Banatha,  182 
Banias,  32,  435 
Barak,  135,  136,  426,  428 
Bar-Cochba,  83 


Bar-Cochebas,  241 
Bar-Jona,  296 
Bar- Jesus,  78 
Bar-Tholomew,  296 
Bartlett,  William  H.,  487 
Barzillai,  70 
Bashan,  34 

Basilica  of  the  Cross,  Jerusalem,  492 
Basilides,  priest,  126 
Bath  of  the  Patriarch,  Jerusalem, 
490 

Batihah,  323 

Bay  of  Acre,  403 

Bazaar,  Joppa,  7 

Bazaars,  378,  483 

Beautiful  Gate,  Jerusalem,  474 

Beelzebub,  117 

Beeroth,  57,  341 

Beersheba,  102 

Bees,  425 

Beirut,  2 

Beisan,  141 

Beit  Dejan,  44,  117 

Beitin,  342,  348 

Beit  Lahm,  62 

Beit  Nebala,  46 

Beit-nimrim,  188 

Beit  Ur  el  foka,  48 

Beit  Ur  el  tahta,  48 

Belus,  403 

Ben-hadad,  169 

Benhadad,  King  of  Syria,  324,  366, 
429 

Benjamites,  184,  352 
Berenice,  237 
Bethabara,  170 
Beth-abra,  189 
Bethany,  208 
Beth-barah,  169 
Beth  Dagon,  45,  110,  116, 117 
Bethel,  342,  432 
Beth-Gan,  143 
Beth-Hogla,  174 
Beth-Hoglah,  197 
Beth  Heron,  48,  50,  55,  59 
Bethlehem,  66 
Beth-nimrah,  188 
Beth -phage,  208 
Beth-rehob,  429 
Bethsaida,  321 
Bethsaida  Julias,  308,  321 
Bethsaida  of  Galilee,  307 
Beth-shan,  141 
Beth-shean,  182,  421 
Bethshemesh,  43 
Beth-shemesh,  117 
Bezetha,  Jerusalem,  220,  225 


INDEX. 


515 


Biarahs,  9, 26 
Bibars,  311 
Birds,  23,  38,  174 
Bir-el-Khebir,  60 
Bir-es-seba,  102 
Bireh,  341 

Bir  Eynb,  Jerusalem,  42,  261 
Birket  el  Hamman,  Jerusalem,  263 
Birket  es  Sultan,  Jerusalem,  253, 
254 

Birket  Hamman  el-Batrak,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  263 

Birket  Israil,  Jerusalem,  262,  264, 
474 

Birket  Jiljalia,  195 

Birket  Mamilla,  Jerusalem,  253 

Birket  Sitti  Mariam,  Jerusalem,  253 

Bir  Yakub,  357 

Blanche  Garde,  114 

Blessed  Virgin,  73,  78,  152,  512 

Blue  iris,  the,  120 

Boaz,  18,  69,  200 

Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  9,  15 

Bonar,  Rev.  Andrew,  386 

Book  of  Ruth,  67 

Bostra,  35 

Bozra,  35 

Bridge  of  Jacob’s  Daughters,  423 

Brocardus,  300 

Brook  of  Cherith,  206 

Broom  trees,  103 

Brothers  of  the  Hospital,  489 

“  Bulls  of  Bashan,”  171,  425 

Burak,  250 

Cabul,  392,  411 
Caesar,  13 
Caesarea,  121 

Caesarea,  Philippi,  22,  435,  437 

Caiaphas,  high  priest,  212 

Caleb,  94 

Cambyses,  412 

Camels,  5,  407 

Cana,  297 

“  Cana  of  Galilee,”  298 
Capernaum,  299 
Caphar  Nahum,  304 
Caravans,  193 
Carchemish,  91 
Carmelites,  126 
Carthage,  411 
Caspar,  82 

Castle  of  Abraham,  97 
Castle  of  Goliath,  470 
Castle  of  Lazarus,  210 
Catherwood,  Mr.,  507 
Catholicon,  Jerusalem.,  498 


Cave  of  Adullam,  71, 115,  282,  285 
Cave  of  Khureitum,  287 
Cave  of  Machpelah,  18,  91,  92, 93,  99 
Cave  of  the  Agony,  Jerusalem,  460 
“  Cave  of  the  Nativity,”  Bethlehem, 
89 

Cavern  of  Redekiah,  450 
Cepheus,  ^Ethiopian  king,  12 
Cestius  Gallus,  47,  56,  237 
Chaffering  and  cheapening,  5,  24, 
484 

Chaldeans,  199 

Chamber  of  the  Last  Supper,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  445 

Chapel  of  Adam,  Jerusalem,  500 
Chapel  of  Helena,  Jerusalem,  499 
Chapel  of  Longinus,  Jerusalem,  498 
Chapel  of  Mary,  Jerusalem,  500 
Chapel  of  St.  James,  Jerusalem,  494 
Chapel  of  St.  Mary  Magdalene,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  494 

Chapel  of  the  Agony,  Jerusalem,  500 
Chapel  of  the  Apparition,  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  497 

Chapel  of  the  Archangel  Michael, 
Jerusalem,  494 

Chapel  of  the  Crowning  with 
Thorns,  Jerusalem,  499 
Chapel  of  the  Derision,  Jerusalem, 
499 

Chapel  of  the  Discovery  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  499 
Chapel  of  the  Forty  Martyrs,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  494 

Chapel  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  496 

Chapel  of  the  Invention  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  499 
Chapel  of  Jacobites,  Jerusalem,  497 
Chapel  of  the  Parting  of  Christ’s 
Raiment,  Jerusalem,  499 
Chapel  of  the  Raising  of  the  Cross, 
Jerusalem,  499 

Chapel  of  the  Sepulchre,  Jerusalem, 

496 

Chapel  of  the  Syrians,  Jerusalem, 

497 

Chapel  of  the  Tomb  of  the  Virgin, 
Jerusalem,  459 
Chateau  Neuf,  429 
Chedorlaomer,  288,  438 
Cherubim,  Tabernacle,  226 
Chief  Mountain,  433 
Chimham,  70 
Chinnereth,  300 
Chorazin,  310 

Christ  Church,  Jerusalem,  481 


516 


INDEX. 


Christian  Street,  Jerusalem,  488 
Church  of  Calvary,  Jerusalem,  492 
Church  of  St.  Anna,  Jerusalem, 
485 

Church  of  St.  George  of  Cappadocia, 
Ludd,  48 

Church  of  St.  Mark,  Tyre,  415 
Church  of  St.  Mary,  Bethlehem,  88 
Church  of  St.  Mary,  Jerusalem,  492 
Church  of  the  Annunciation,  Naza- 
« reth,  153 

Church  of  the  Ascension,  Jerusalem, 
464 

Church  of  the  Cross,  Jerusalem, 
492 

Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  Je¬ 
rusalem,  241,  487,  490-504 
Church  of  the  Prophet  Jeremiah, 
Karget  el  Enab,  43 
Church  of  the  Resurrection,  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  492 

Citadel,  Jerusalem,  471,  248 
Citadel  of  Zion,  320 
City  gates,  17 
City  of  Baal,  42 
City  of  David,  217 
City  of  Forests,  42 
City  of  Grapes,  42 
City  of  Jupiter,  47 
City  of  Palm  Trees,  197,  200 
Clarke,  Dr.  Edward  D.,  153,  360 
Claudius,  Emperor,  404 
Cleopatra,  199,  404 
Coenaculum,  445 
Cold  Fountain,  314 
Colony  of  the  German  Temple,  11 
Column  of  the  Derision,  Jerusalem, 
499 

Column  of  the  Swinging,  Jerusalem, 
497 

Couder,  Captain  Charles  R.,  30,  38, 
43,  120,  135,  195,  276,  351,  454,  457 
Coneys,  175 

Constantine,  Emperor,  89,  241,  465 
Convent  of  Elijah,  Mount  Carmel, 
127 

Convent  of  Mar  Elyas,  Mount  Car¬ 
mel,  126 

Convent  of  Mar  Saba,  279 
Convent  of  St.  Elijah,  62 
Convent  of  Sisters  of  Zion,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  485 

Convent  of  the  Greek  Church,  Joppa, 
8  . 

Coptic  Khan,  Jerusalem,  488 
Cornelius,  Centurion,  122 
Cotton  Grotto,  Jerusalem,  475 


Council  of  Nicsea,  47 
Court  of  Israel,  Temple  of  Herod, 
Jerusalem,  231 

Court  of  the  Priests,  Temple  of 
Herod,  Jerusalem,  231 
Court  of  the  Women,  Temple  of 
Herod,  Jerusalem,  231 
Crassus,  235 
Crusades,  the,  244 

Crusaders,  378,  389,  397,  414,  418, 
446,  461,  465,  493,  510 
Cuthites,  356 
Cyprus,  412 
Cyx-enius,  73 
Cyrus  the  Great,  233 

Dagon,  idol  of,  116 
Dalhamia,  315 
Dalmamia,  315 
Dalmanutha,  314 
Damascus,  182 

Damascus  Gate,  Jerusalem,  474,  475 

Dan,  430 

Danites,  431 

Daphne,  376 

Darius,  233 

David,  19,  23,  57,  61,  70,  71,  96,  101, 
111,  113, 115, 142, 144, 169,178, 186, 
196,  208, 217, 220, 222,  223, 285,  288, 
331,  429 

David  Street,  Jerusalem,  477 
David’s  Place  of  Judgment,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  511 
Dead  Sea,  33, 191 
Deborah,  135,  426 
De  Bouillon,  Godfrey,  244,  493,  497 
Decapolis,  confederacy  of,  182 
Defneh,  376 
Deir  Eynb,  42 

Deir  Mar  Elyas,  Mount  Carmel,  62, 
127 

De  Lusignan,  Guy,  397, 405 

Derketo,  goddess,  13,  113 

Desgenettes,  French  surgeon,  9 

“  Dews  of  Hermon,”  433 

Dibash,  98 

Dibs,  98 

Dion,  182 

Diospolis,  47 

Docus,  204 

Doeg,  331 

Dogs,  6,  22,  38 

Dome  of  the  Chain,  Jerusalem,  511 
Dome  of  the  Rock,  Jerusalem,  507, 
510 

Donkeys,  5 

Door  of  the  Chain,  Jerusalem,  510 


INDEX. 


517 


Dorcas,  14,  46 

Doable  Gate,  Jerusalem,  473,  512 
Doves,  271 

Dragon  Well  of  Jeremiah,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  254 

Drake,  Tyrwhitt,  287 
“  Dromedaries  of  Midian,”  407 
Druses,  128 

Dung  Gate,  Jerusalem,  250,  472 
Dye-works,  413 

Ebal,  383 
Eben-ezer,  60 

Ecce  Homo  Arch,  Jerusalem,  485 
Edamites,  238 
Edrei,  425 
Edward  I.,  126 

Eighth  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  487 
Ekron,  110, 116 
El  Azariyeh,  209 
El-Burak,  509 
Eleazer,  237,  239,  290 
El-Elohe-Israel,  362 
Eleventh  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  487 
El  Ferdis,  282 
El  Fuleh,  137 
El  Fureidis,  282 
El  Ghuweir,  301 
El  Haditha,  46 
El-Harathiyeh,  135 
Eli,  19,  111,  353 
Eliezer  of  Damascus,  95 
Elijah,  103,  127,  129.  130,  131,  132, 
146, 179,  189, 198, 206, 352,  416,  509 
Elimelech,  68 
Elizabeth,  90 
El  Jib,  49,  56 
El  Jish,  312 
Elkanah, 353 
El  Khalil,  97 

Elisha,  132, 179,  189,  198,  347,  389 

El  Khuds,  241,  443 

El  Kobab,  40 

El  Lazariyeh,  209 

El-Lebbun,  352 

El-Leddan,  430 

El-Lubiyeh,  399 

El  Maharrakah,  128 

El  Meshed,  298 

El  Tell,  437 

El  Yah ndi veil,  45 

Emir  David  of  Kerek,  244 

Emir  ed-Din,  419 

Emmaus,  41,  44,  315 

Empress  Helena,  241, 464, 467 


En-Dor,  140 
Eneas,  46 

En-Gannim,  143,  144 
Engedi,  190,  287 

English  Hospital,  Jerusalem,  481 
English  Mission  House,  Jerusalem, 
441 

En  Nazi  rah,  151 
En  Eogel,  262 
En-shemesh,  208 
“  Ephphatha,”  422 
Ephraim,  336 
Ephraimites,  169,  181 
Ephrath,  62 
Ephron,  92 
Er  Eann,  335 
Er  Eiha,  194,  205 
Esarhaddon,  367 
Esau,  93 

Esdraelon,  Plain  of,  31, 134, 142, 144, 
426 

Esdud,  113,  114 
Esfia,  124 
Esh-colah,  98 
Essenes,  274,  278 
Es  Semakh,  325 
Etam,  281,  283 

Eternal  Gate,  Jerusalem,  473 
Ethbaal,  411 
Et  Tabighah,  305 
Et  Tell,  321,  336 
Eusebius,  123,  415,  467 

Faba,  castle,  137 
“  Face  of  God,”  187 
Fakhr  ed-Din,  419 
Farrar,  Archdeacon,  83,  105,  150, 
272 

Feast  of  Tabernacles,  479 
Felix,  Eoman  governor,  123 
Fergusson,  James,  470,  484,  509 
Festival  of  the  Eaising  of  the  Cross, 
474 

Festus,  Eoman  governor,  123 
Field  of  Blood,  Jerusalem,  447 
Field  of  the  House  of  Oppression, 
429 

“  Field  of  the  Mighty,”  57 
Fifth  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  486 
Fik,  324 

First  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  485 
Flavius  Silva,  290 
Flies,  god  of,  117 
Flowers,  425 

Fountain  Gate,  Jerusalem,  250 


518 


INDEX. 


Fountain  of  Hoglah,  197 
Fountain  of  Steps,  Jerusalem,  260 
Fountain  of  the  Virgin,  Nazareth, 
152 

Fourth  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  486 
Frank  Mountain,  282 
Frederick  II.,  244 
Frederic  Barbarossa,  Emperor,  414 
“  From  Dan  even  unto  Beersheba,” 
432 

Fruit  trees,  9,  26,  37 
Fuleh,  138 
Fulke,  King,  114 
Fuller’s  Spring,  262 

Gabinius,  Roman  general,  369 
Gad,  35,  178 
Gadara,  182 
Gadarenes,  323 
Gadaritas,  183 
Galilee,  238, 392 
Gam  ala,  324 
Gamaliel,  271 
Ganne  Sarim,  301 
Garden  of  Gethsemane,  460,  468 
Garden  of  Elijah,  127 
Garden  of  Princes,  301 
Garden  of  the  Olive  Press,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  460 
Gardens,  9,  25 

Gate  of  Flowers,  Jerusalem,  475 
Gate  of  Herod,  Jerusalem,  474 
Gate  of  Mercy,  Jerusalem,  474 
Gate  of  Repentance,  Jerusalem, 

473 

Gate  of  the  Chain,  Jerusalem,  477, 
482 

Gate  of  the  Columns,  Jerusalem, 
475 

Gate  of  the  Haram,  Jerusalem, 
482 

Gate  of  the  Lady  Mary,  Jerusalem, 

474 

Gate  of  the  Moors,  Jerusalem,  472 
Gate  of  the  Prophet  David,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  472 

Gate  of  the  Tribes,  Jerusalem,  474 
Gate  of  the  Valley  before  the  Dragon 
Well,  Jerusalem,  250 
Gate  Shushan,  Jerusalem,  474 
Gath,  110, 114,  115 
Gath-Hepher,  298 
Gaza,  96,  110 
Geba,  335 

Ge  Bene  Hinnom,  445 
Gehazi,  133 


Gehenna,  445 

Geikie,  Dr.  H.  L.,  2,  11,  72,  87, 193, 
271,  289,  376,  381,  436,  454 
Geodes,  177 
Gerar,  110 
Gerasa,  182,  186 
Gergesa,  323 
Gergesenes,  the,  323 
Gessius  Florus,  Roman  governor, 
237 

Gethsemane,  460,  468 
Gezer,  40 
Ghazza,  111 
Ghuzzeh,  111 
Ghor,  33 
Ghor,  river,  169 
Giants,  94 

Gibbon,  Edward,  405,  417 
Gibeah, 184 

Gibeah  of  Benjamin,  332 
Gibeah  of  Saul,  332 
Gibeon,  56, 227 
Gibeonites,  50,  334,  341 
Gibraltar  of  Palestine,  438 
Gideon,  138, 188 
Gilead,  35 

Gilgal,  Plain  of  Jordan,  50, 195,  352, 
353 

Gimzo,  48 

Giscala,  312 

Glass,  403,  414,  418 

Golden  Candlestick,  Tabernacle,  226 

Golden  Gate,  Jerusalem,  473,  511 

Goliath,  114 

Gophna,  349 

Golgotha,  Jerusalem,  453,  499 
Grapes,  97 

Great  Altar  of  Burnt  Offering,  Tem¬ 
ple  of  Herod,  Jerusalem,  231 
Great  Mosque,  Nabulus,  378 
Great  Porch,  Herod’s  Temple,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  512 

Great  Sanhedrin,  318 
Greek  Easter,  501-506 
Green  Mosque,  Nabulus,  379 
Grotto  of  Jeremiah,  Jerusalem,  451 
Grotto  of  the  Agony,  Jerusalem,  460 
Grotto  of  the  Sepulchre,  Jerusalem, 
496 

“  Guardian  of  Mount  Zion,”  446 
Guerin,  16 
Guilds,  105 

Guillemot,  Captain,  17 

“  Habitation  of  Chimham,”  70 
Hackett,  Dr.,  349,  353,  354 
Hadid,  46 


INDEX. 


519 


Hadrian,  Emperor,  47,  241,  304 

Hadrur  Khan,  207 

Hagar,  102 

Hai,  336 

Haiath,  336 

Haifa,  2,  403 

Haminam  el  Batrak,  Jerusalem, 
263 

Hammam  el-Batrak,  490 
Hammam  esk-Shifa,  Jerusalem,  264, 
483 

Hammath,  315 

Hannah,  wife  of  Elkanah,  353 
Hannan,  High  Priest,  271 
Haram  esh-Sherif,  477,  507 
Haram  Area,  Jerusalem,  223 
Haram,  the,  507-512 
Harosheth,  135,  425 
Harper,  Henry  A.,  206 
Hasbani,  the,  429 
Hashbeya,  34 
Hattin,  battle  of,  397 
Haunt  of  Partridges,  197 
Hauran,  34 
Hazael,  146 
Hazezon-Tamar,  287 
Hazor,  425,  426 
Head  of  the  Spring,  408 
Healing  Bath,  Jerusalem,  264 
Heber,  136 
Hebron,  90,  100,  273 
Hebron  Gate,  470 
Helkath-hazzurim,  57 
Heraclius,  Emperor,  243 
Hermits’  caves,  279 
Hermon,  34 
Hermons,  434 
Hermonites,  434 
Herod  Agrippa  I.,  122,  225 
Herod  Agrippa  II.,  237 
Herod  Antipas,  316,  317 
Herod  Philip,  435 
Herod  the  Great,  13,  80,  105,  113, 
120,  199,  247,  282,  290,  314,  369 
Herodians,  278 
Herodium,  282 
Hero’s  Well,  60 
Heshbon,  35 
Heth,  46 

Heth,  children  of,  91 
Hezekiah,  111,  222,  232,  254,  263 
Hiel,  198 

Hieromax,  the,  169 

Hill  of  Beans,  332 

Hill  of  Evil  Counsel,  212,  447 

Hill  of  Moreh,  147 

Hill  of  the  Judge,  430 


Hill  of  the  Precipitation,  Nazareth, 
154 

Hill  of  the  Prophets,  212 
Hill  of  the  Buin,  425 
Hillel,  the  Looser,  271 
Hills  of  Samaria,  31 
Hippene,  325 
Hippicus,  470 
Hippos,  182,  325 

Hiram,  King  of  Tyre,  2,  13,  392, 
410 

Hittite  Empire,  46 
Hittites,  91,  92 
Hivites,  341,  362 
Holy  City,  443 

Holy  Family,  the,  90,  102,  104,  105, 
117, 119, 124,  134,  150,  195,391 
Holy  Fire,  501 
Holy  House  of  Loretto,  154 
Holy  Place,  Tabernacle,  226 
Holy  of  Holies,  Tabernacle,  226 
Holy  of  Holies,  Temple  of  Herod, 
Jerusalem,  231 

Holy  Place,  Temple  of  Herod,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  231 
Honey,  98 

“  Honorable  counsellor,”  36 
Hooker,  Dr.,  199 
Horns  of  Hattin,  299 
Hosea,  196 

Hoshea  (synonym  for  “ salvation”), 
77 

Hospice  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John, 
Jerusalem,  221 

Hospice  of  St.  John.  Jerusalem,  487 
House  of  Annas,  447 
House  of  Bread,  62 
House  of  Caiaphas,  447 
House  of  Dagon,  45,  110,  117 
House  of  Dates,  208 
House  of  Fish,  307 
House  of  Flesh,  62 
House  of  God,  342 
House  of  Leopards,  188 
House  of  Passage,  169 
House  of  Simon,  Joppa,  17 
House  of  Sorrow,  208 
House  of  the  Ford,  169,  189 
House  of  the  Leopard,  188 
House  of  the  Poor  Man  Lazarus, 
Jerusalem,  486 

House  of  the  Eich  Man  Dives,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  486 

House  of  (unripe)  Figs,  208 
Howe,  Fisher,  454 
Huldah  Gate,  512 
Hunin,  429 


520 


INDEX, 


Iamblichus,  125 

Ibrahim  Pasha,  11,  87,  97,  100,  112, 
245,  406,  419 
Ibzan, 70 
Idumeans,  238 
Ijon,  429 

Infants,  slaughter  of,  86 

Inn  of  the  Good  Samaritan, 270 

Irbid,  314 

Iris,  425 

Irrigation,  9,35 

Isaac,  91,  93,  100,  102,  224,  494, 
508 

Isaiah,  20,  22,  81,  254,  255,  256,  340, 
359 

Ish-bosheth,  56,  101, 186 
Ishmael,  93 
Issacliar,  144 
Izates,  450 

Jabbock  Kiver,  34 
Jabin,  135, 426 

Jacob,  63,  93,  100,  103, 177,  186,  187, 
188,  345,  361,379 
Jacob’s  Well,  357,  386 
Jaddua,  High  Priest,  233 
Jael,  136 
Jaffa,  1 

Jaffa  Gate,  Bethlehem,  44,  445, 
470 

Jabesh,  185 
Jabesh  Gilead,  184 
Jamai  el  Kebir,  378 
Jamai  el  Nisr,  378 
James,  439,  462 
Jeba,  335 
Jebel  Duhy,  147 
Jebel  el  Tur,  212 
Jebel  esb -Sheikh,  433 
Jebel  eth-Thelj,  433 
Jebel  Et-Tor,  357 
Jebel  et  Tur,  149 
Jebel  Ferdis,  282 
Jebel  Karantel,  202 
Jebel  Mar  Elyas,  127 
Jebel  Mebbeh,  190 
Jebel  Shihan,  58 
Jebel  Sulemiyeh,  357 
Jebel  Usdum,  34 
“  Jebusite,  the,”  217 
Jehoash,  104,232 
Jehu,  143,  146, 347 
Jehud,  45 
Jenin,  143 
Jephthah,  179, 188 
Jerash,  186 
Jerboa,  the,  175 


Jeremiah,  149,  176,  331,  353, 509 
Jericho,  194, 197,  198, 199,  200 
Jeroboam,  346,  365,  432 
Jerome,  75 

Jerusalem,  213,215, 216-245,  443-512 
Jeshimon,  275 
Jcssg  69 

Jesus,  26,  77,  143,  148,  154,  160,  163, 
170,  182,  189,  200,  202,  207,  208, 
209,  210,  211,  212,  214,  215,  216, 
246, 255, 270, 271,  294-296, 298, 310, 
329,  385,  388,  390,  392,  407,  408, 
413,  421,  422,  436,  438,  440,  452, 
459,  460,  462,  463,  469,  482,  484- 
486,  487,  495-497,  498,  499,  509 
Jesus  Barabbas,  78 
Jesus  Justus,  78 
Jewish  Hospice,  Jerusalem,  445 
Jewish  Quarter,  Jerusalem,  477 
Jews’  Wailing  Place,  Jerusalem, 
479 

Jezebel,  103,  145,  411 
Jezreel,  139, 145 
Jezzar  Pasha,  406,  419,  423 
Jezzar,  the  Butcher,  406 
Jiljalia,  352 
Jimzur,  48 

Jisr  Benat  Yakub,  423 

Joab,  19,  56,  57,  71,  96,  217,  429 

Joachim,  459 

Joash,  104,  222 

Job,  18 

Job’s  Monastery,  42 
Job’s  Well,  42, 261 
Jochanan,  Kabbi,  96 
John,  273,  284,  439,  462 
John  Hyrcanus,  369 
John  of  Giscala,  238 
John  of  Jerusalem,  126 
John  the  Baptist,  170,  189,  278,  293, 
389 

Johnnites,  489 
Jokneam,  134 
Jonah,  11,  13,  298 
Jonathan,  13,  67,  141,  285,  335 
Joppa,  1 

Jopppa,  wife  of  Cepheus,  12 
Joram,  146 

Jordan,  the,  32,  170,  192,  423,  430, 
436 

Jordan  Valley,  32 
Jose,  78 

Joseph,  73,  75,  85,  93,  105,  108,  362, 
459 

Joseph,  father  of  Jesus,  270,  272 
Joseph  of  Arimathsea,  495,497 
Joseph  the  Patriarch,  358 


INDEX, 


521 


Josephus,  78,  136, 160,  183,  217,  222, 
225,  228, 229, 239,  248, 254,  255, 263, 
265,  266,  290, 301 , 305,  317,  318,  321, 
359, 393,  400, 430,  438, 450,  470 
Joshua,  13,  50,  94,  110,  145,  195, 196, 
198,  321, 336, 337, 350, 363, 382,  410, 
426,  428 

Joshua  (synonym  for  “  whose  salva¬ 
tion  is  Jehovah  ”),  77 
Josiah,  142,  348,  432 
Jotham,  224, 232, 365,  379 
Jotopata,  400 
Judah,  114 

Judah  Hak-Kadosh,  318 
Judas,  212,  462 

Judas  Maccabeus,  13,  55,  60,  97,  169 
Jufna,  349 
Junot,  Andoche,  138 
Julian,  Emperor,  242, 372 
Justinian,  Emperor,  243,  372,  512 
Juttah,  90,  273 

Kabr  Hairan,  415 
Kabul,  393 
Kades,  428 
Kadesh,  91 
Kadesh-Naphtali,  428 
Kaisariyeh,  124 
Kanet  el-Jelil,  298 
Karyet  el  Enab,  42 
Kasr  el  Yehudi,  193 
Kasr  Hajla,  197 
Kastal,  44 
Katamon,  61 

Kedron  Valley,  218,  280,  448,  458 

Kefr  Auna,  45 

Kefr  et-Tur,  464 

Kefr  Kenna,  298 

Kenna,  Spring,  298 

Kepler,  Johann,  84 

Kerak,  58,321' 

Kerazeh,  310 
Keto,  goddess,  13 
Khalif  Amar,  243 
Khan  Minyeh,  303,  306 
Khan  of  the  Merchants,  Nabulus, 
378 

Khan  Tujjar,  378 
Kharezmians,  493 
Khersa,  323 
Khirbet  el  Atara,  341 
Khurbet  Erma,  43 
Khureitun,  282,  285 
King  Agrippa,  123 
Kirjath-Arba,  91 
Kirjath  Baal,  42 
Kirjath-jearim,  42 


Kishon,  the,  135, 403 
“  Kitchen  of  the  Virgin,”  Nazareth, 
154 

Kleber,  138 

Knights  of  St.  John,  405 
Knights  of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem, 
488 

Knights  Templar,  510 
Komnenus  Kalfa,  494 
Koran,  507 
Kranion,  454 

Kubbet  es-Sakhra,  507,  509,  511 
Kulat  el-Jalud,  470 
Kulat  el  Husn,  324 
Kulonieh,  44 
Kurun  Hattin,  299 

Laban,  177 

Ladder  of  Tyre,  30,  407 
Laish,  430 

Lake  Asphaltites,  34 
Lake  Huleh,  32,  171,  424 
Lake  of  Capernaum,  300 
Lake  of  Gennesareth,  300 
Lake  of  Merom,  427 
Lamentations  of  Jeremiah,  451 
Land  of  the  Philistines,  31 
Latin  Hospice,  Joppa,  8 
Latrun,  41 

Latticed  windows,  4,  20 
“  Lauras,”  279 
Lazarus,  208, 210 
Leah,  64,  100 
Lebonah, 352 
Lejjun,  135 
Lepers,  209,  472 
Levites,  66 
Lilies,  119,  425 
Little  Hermon,  147 
Little  Jordan,  430 
Lod,  45 

“Lord  of  Hair,”  416 

Lord’s  Table,  446 

Louis  IX.,  419 

Lot,  19, 191, 342,  361 

Lot’s  Sea,  33 

Lower  Beth  Horon,  48 

Lower  City,  Jerusalem,  220,  222 

Lower  Pool  of  Gihon,  255, 445 

Ludd,  44,  45 

Luz,  342 

Lydda,  45 

Lynch,  Lieutenant  William  F.,  172, 
213 

Maccabees,  235,  291,  404 
Macgregor,  John,  324 


522 


INDEX. 


Magdala,  313 
Magians,  81 
Mahaniam,  186 
Mahneh,  186 
Makkedah,  54 
Makta,  193 
Malek-el-Adel,  14, 15 
Mambaz,  450 
Mamelukes, '15 
Mature,  91,  98 
Manasseh,  35,  224,  232,  368 
Marcus  ScaurUs,  12 
“  Market-place,”  471 
“  Marshes  of  the  Acacia,”  189 
Marsh-mallow,  the,  120 
Martha,  208 
Martineau,  125 
Marty rion,  Jerusalem,  492 
Mary  (mother  of  Jesus),  74,  75,  270, 
272 

Mary  (sister  of  Martha),  210 
Mary  Magdalene,  313,  497 
Masada,  290 
McGregor,  John,  403 
Megiddo,  135,  142 

Mehemet  Ali,  Pasha  of  Egypt, 
245 

Mejdel,  313 
Mekhmet  Daud,  511 
Melchior,  82 

Melchizedek,  358,  371,  508 
Melek  el  Moaddin,  Sultan,  244 
Menelaus,  priest,  234 
Mensa  Christa,  Nazareth,  154 
Mercy  Seat,  Tabernacle,  226 
Meri  Ibn  Omar,  49 
Merj  Ayun,  429 
Merril,  Dr.  Selah,  454 
Mesadiyeh,  323 
Micah,  66,73, 431 
Mich  mash,  335,  337 
Midianites,  138,  139, 169, 188 
Migdal  Eder,  73 
Migdol,  105 
Millo,  222 

Milton,  John,  211,  261 
Miracles,  132,  148,  200, 209,  255,  321, 
422 

Mizpah,  177,  353 
Mizpeh,  58,  180 
Moab,  mountains  of,  190 
Modestus,  Abbot,  492 
Mohammed  I.,  359, 459,  507,  509 
Mohammed  II,,  100 
Mohammedan  Quarter,  Jerusalem, 
482 

Moloch,  445,  448 


Monastery  of  Gethsemane,  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  490 

Monastery  of  St.  John  the  Baptist, 
Jerusalem,  490 
Montefiore,  Sir  Moses,  445 
Moon-pool,  Joppa  harbor,  2 
Moorish  Quarter,  Jerusalem,  480 
Moses,  24,  95,  190,  191,  226,  363,  432 
Mosque  el-Aksa,  Jerusalem,  508, 
511 

Mosque  El  Khadra,  379 
Mosque  of  Omar,  Mount  Moriah, 
243,  443,  490,  512 
Mosque  of  the  Bastion,  Joppa,  16 
Mosque  of  the  Eagle,  Nabulus,  378 
Mount  Calvary,  451 
Mount  Carmel,  30,  58,  124,  403 
Mount  Ebal,  357 
Mount  Gerizim,  58,  357,  371,  381 
Mount  Gilboa,  31,  111,  140,  144 
Mount  Gilead,  176 
Mount  Hermon,  432 
Mount  Joy,  60 
Mount  Moriah,  219,  223,  443 
Mount  Nebo,  190,  192 
Mount  of  Offence,  211 
Mount  of  Olives,  212,  239,  462 
Mount  of  the  Ascension,  212 
Mount  of  the  Beatitudes,  299 
Mount  Quarantania,  202 
Mount  Scopus,  212 
Mount  Tabor,  31,  149 
Mount  Zion,  219,  221,  445 
Mountain  of  Elijah,  127 
Mountain  of  Purity,  149 
Mountain  of  Sodom,  34 
Mountain  of  the  Forty  Days,  202 
Mishna,  319 
Mugharat,  281 
Mujedda,  135 
Mukmas,  335 
Mukum  Hizn  Yakub,  379 
Murat,  Joachim,  138 
Muristan,  Jerusalem,  221,  488 

Naaman,  169 
Nablous,  356 
Naboth,  145 
Nabulus,  356,  377,  385 
Nahr  en  N’aman,  403 
Nain,  148 
Naomi,  68 

Napoleon  I.,  112,  137,  406 
Napoleon  III.,  485 
Narcissus,  the,  119 
Nathan,  the  prophet,  254 
Nathanael,  296 


INDEX, 


523 


Nazareth,  151 
Neballat,  46 

Nebuchadnezzar,  229,  232,  412 
Neby  Daud,  445 
Neby  Samwil,  57,59 
“  Negeb,’’  Judea,  277 
Nehemiah,  224,  255,  473 
Nethinims,  224 
Newcastle,  429 
Nicodemus,  329,  495,  497 
Nicolaye,  missionary,  348 
Nicopolis,  42 

Ninth  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  487 
Nob,  227,  331,  353 

Noble  Sanctuary,  Jerusalem,  477, 
507 

Nunc  Dimittis,  79 

Obadiah,  389 
Obed,  69 

Og,  King  of  Bashan,  95,  178 
Old  Tyre,  409 
Olive  trees,  461 
Omri,  356,  366 
Ono,  45,  46 

Ophel,  Mount  Moriah,  220, 224,  472 
Ophrah,  57,  336 
Ophthalmic  affections,  38,  47 
Order  of  the  Sepulchre,  498 
Order  of  the  Temple,  510 
Oreb,  the  Haven,  139 
Origen,  123,  201 
Orpah,  68 

Palace  of  the  English  Bishop,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  481 
Paleetyrus,  409 
Palestine  and  Syria,  373 
Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  45,  308 
Palestine  Quarterly  Statement,  454 
Palm  Sunday,  474 
Palmer,  Edward  H.,  177 
Pan,  433 
Paneas,  433 
Papyrus,  424 
Parapets,  21 
Passover,  373,  478 
Patmos,  28 

Patriarch’s  Bath,  Jerusalem,  263 
Paul,  123,418 
Pella,  182,  185 
Peniel,  187 

Pentateuch,  Samaritan,  380 
Perazim,  61 
Perseus,  12 

Peter,  122,  308, 439,  462 


Pharisees,  274,  278 
Pharaoh  (father-in-law  of  Solomon), 
41 

Pharaoh  Necho,  142 
Phenicians,  431 
Philip,  114,  296,  308 
Philip,  the  deacon,  121 
Philip,  the  Tetrarch,  321 
Philadelphia,  182 
Philistia,  Plain  of,  31,  109 
Philistines,  31, 109, 140, 227,  335, 338, 
353 

Picturesque  Palestine,  127, 376 
Pirke  Aboth,  82 
Pilate,  485 
Pisgali,  190 
Place  of  a  Skull,  453 
Place  of  Stoning,  453 
“Place  of  the  Mourning  of  Jacob,” 
379 

Plain  of  El-Makhna,  357 
Plain  of  Esdraelon,  31, 134, 142,  144, 
426 

Plain  of  Gennesareth,  402 
Plain  of  Jordan,  33,  188 
Plain  of  Philistia,  31,  109 
Plain  of  Sharon,  10,  31, 118 
Pliny,  11,  236,  413 
Pompey,  13, 199,  235 
Pomponius  Mela,  11 
Pontius  Pilate,  252 
Pool  of  Amygdalon,  Jerusalem,  263 
Pool  of  Bethesda,  Jerusalem,  223, 
253,  262,  264,  474 
Pool  of  Gibeon,  56 
Pool  of  Hezekiah,  Jerusalem,  253, 
262,  488 

Pool  of  Israel,  Jerusalem,  264 
Pool  of  Siloam,  Jerusalem,  224,  253, 
255,  470 

Pool  of  the  Bath,  Jerusalem,  263 
Pool  of  the  Bath  of  the  Patriarch, 
Jerusalem,  263 

Poor-House  for  Indigent  Jews,  Je¬ 
rusalem,  445 
Porta  Judiciaria,  487 
Porters,  5,  24 
Poseidon,  sea  god,  12 
Potter’s  Field,  447 
Pottery,  7,  21 
Prince  of  Wales,  99 
Prison  of  Christ,  Jerusalem,  498 
“  Pruning  of  the  Palm,”  287 
Procopius,  123 
Ptolemais,  402 
Ptolemy  Lagus,  404 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  105 


524 


INDEX, 


Ptolemy  Philopator,  234 
Ptolemy  Soter,  233,  404 
Pythagoras,  125 

Queen  Berenice,  123 
Queen  City  of  Syria,  409 
Queen  Helena  of  Adiabene,  450 
Quirinus,  73 

Eabban  Simeon,  271 
Babbath  Ammon,  182 
Bab-Mag,  81 
Eabshakeh,  254 
Bachel,  93 
Eachel’s  Tomb,  62 
Bahab,  198,  200 
Bakkath,  321 
Bamah,  86,  335,  353 
Bamah  of  Benjamin,  57 
Bamathaim,  36 
Bamathaim-Zophim,  335 
Bamesis  II.,  91 
Bamoth  Gilead,  146 
Baphael,  510 
Baphana,  182 
Bas  el  Abyad,  407 
Bas  el  Ain,  373, 408 
Bas  el  Musheirifeh,  407 
Bas  en  Nakurah,  407 
Baymond,  Count,  397 
Baynald  of  Ckatillon,  397 
Bebekah,  100 

Eehoboam,  72,  97,  232,  283,  284,  365 
Beligious  emblems,  87,  98 
Benan,  Joseph  E.,  416  - 
Bentiyeh,  37,  45 
Beuben,  35,  178 

Eichard  Cceur  de  Lion,  14,  60,  113, 
244,  405 

Bichardson,  Dr.,  152 
Eimmon,  57,  336 
Biver  Litany,  416 
Bizpah,  334 
Eoberts,  David,  111 
Bobinson’s  Arch,  Jerusalem,  223,  480 
Bobinson,  Dr.  Edward,  43,  45,  59, 
104,  135,  156,  171,  188,  206,  258, 
260,  297,  289,  315,  331,  352,  360, 
397,  425,  429, 450, 480,  485 
“  Bob  Boy,”  canoe,  403 
“  Bod  out  of  the  Stock  of  Jesse,”  70 
Bogers,  Miss,  127,  376 
Boll  of  the  Law,  479 
Bose  of  Moab,  69 
Boses,  119 
“  Boot  of  Jesse,”  70 
Bound  Fountain  of  Capernaum,  305 


Bummon,  336 
Buth,  18,  200 

Safed,  311 
Saida,  417,  419  * 

St.  Basil,  197 

St.  Caralombos  Monastery,  Jerusa¬ 
lem,  487 
St.  Chariton,  285 
St.  James  the  Great,  481 
St.  Jean  d’Acre,  126,  402 
St.  Jerome,  37,  125,  201,  256,  312, 319 
St.  John,  28, 163,  21Q,  23$,  299,  303, 
322,  329 
St.  Justin,  75 
St.  Louis  of  France,  126 
St.  Luke,  41,  75,  77,  322,  104,  463 
St.  Mark,  163,  303,  322,  422,  463 
St.  Matthew,  163,  190,  322 
St.  Paul,  27,  46,  312,  404,  414 
St.  Peter,  14,  46,  433 
St.  Saba,  281 
St.  Stephen,  453 

St.  Stephen’s  Gate,  Jerusalem,  453, 
474 

St.  Veronica,  486 
Sakhra,  Jerusalem,  223 
Sakut,  188 

Saladin,  15,  113,  244,  397,  405,  418, 
433 

Salim,  358 
Salmon,  200 
Salome,  107,  200 
Salt  Sea,  33 
Samaria,  356,  366 

Samaritans,  168,  330,  356,  367,  370, 
371,  379  v. 

Samson,  20,  96,  111,  112,  113, 117 
Samuel,  57,  59,  70,  103, 196,  333,  335, 
338,  346,  353 
Samuel’s  tomb,  61 
Sarah,  91,  93, 100 
Sarepta,  416 
Sarfend,  416 
Sarona,  11 

Saul,  60, 70, 96, 101,  111,  115, 140, 185, 
196,227, 285,  288,  332,  333,  334, 338 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  423 
Sayce,  Prof.  Archibald,  259 
Scarlet  anemone,  the,  120 
Scala  Tyriorum,  407 
School  of  the  Prophets,  Mount  Car¬ 
mel,  133 

Scorpion  Hills,  355 
Scythian  City,  421 
Scythiopolis,  182,  421 
Sea  of  Arabah,  33 


INDEX. 


525 


Sea  of  Galilee,  300,  422 
8eaof  the  Plain,  33 
Sea  of  Tiberius,  300 
Sealed  Spring,  251 
Sealing,  24 

Seat  of  the  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem, 
498 

Sebastiyeh,  356 

Second  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  485 
Sefuriyeh,  397 
Seilun,  352 

Selene,  daughter  of  Cleopatra,  404 

Seleucus,  234 

Selim  I.,  100, 244 

Semiramis,  113 

Sennacherib,  263,  340 

Sephardim,  480 

Septuagint,  105 

Sermon  on  the  Mount,  300 

Serpent  Pool,  Jerusalem,  254 

Seth,  372 

Seventh  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  487 
Shakespeare,  William,  76, 83 
Shalem,  362 
Shallum,  255 
Shalmanezer,  367 
Shammai,  the  Binder,  271 
Sharon,  Plain  of,  10,  31,  118 
Sheba,  429 

Shechem,  93,  356,  359 
Shechem,  son  of  Ham  or,  362 
Shechem,  Yale  of,  360 
Shechemites,  362 
Shem,  109 
Shemer,  366 
Shemhamphorash,  509 
Shemrin,  366 

Shew  Bread,  table  of,  Tabernacle,  226 

Shiloah,  255 

Shiloh,  227,  352 

Shimei,  208 

“  Ship  of  Tarshish,”  13 

Shisliak,  King,  232 

Shitrai,  the  Sharonite,  118 

Shomeron,  366 

Shunem,  132, 140, 148 

Shur,  Wilderness  of,  31 

Siccarii,  290 

Sichem,  342 

Sidon,  30,  417 

Sidonian  City,  410 

Sidonians,  410, 418 

Sihon,  178 

Silla,  222 

SilwaD,  470 


Simeon,  79,  285 
Simon  Maccabeus,  13,  404 
Simon  of  Cyrene,  486 
Simon  of  Gerasa,  238 
Simon  Peter,  296 
Simon,  slave,  200 
Simon  the  Leper,  210 
Simon  the  Tanner,  14,  16 
Sinai,  desert  of,  226 
Single  Gate,  Jerusalem,  473 
Sion,  433 

Sisera,  135, 136, 426 
Sixth  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  486 
Smith,  Sir  Sidney,  137, 406 
Snowy  Mountain,  433 
Solane,  148 

Solomon,  18,  24,  26,  58, 188,  211, 222, 
223,  224,  228,  252,  254,  283,  330, 
392,  410,  511 
Solomon’s  Pools,  97,  250 
Solomon’s  Stables,  Jerusalem,  473 
Solyman  the  Magnificent,  245,  475, 
509 

Son  of  a  Star,  83 
South  Country,  Judea,  277 
Spring  of  Elisha,  Jericho,  199 
Spring  of  Nehemiali,  Jerusalem,  262 
Spring  of  the  Kid,  287 
Spring  of  the  Virgin,  Jerusalem, 
256,  257 

Stanley,  Dean  Arthur  P.,  49,  51,  99, 
118,  120,  124,  128,  149,  154,  171, 
177,  209,  214,  313,  335,  337,  343, 
349,  371,  426,  436,  461,  467,  501 
Stoke,  Simon,  126 
Stone  of  Help,  60 
Stone  of  Unction,  Jerusalem,  495 
Strabo,  413 
Strato’s  Tower,  120 
Street  of  the  Damascus  Gate,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  477,  482 

Street  of  the  Gate  of  David,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  477 
Streets,  4,  20,  38,  99 
Subeibeh,  fortress,  438 
Succoth,  188 
Suetonius,  85 
Sugar  cane,  201 
Suleiman,  37 

Sultan’s  Pool,  Jerusalem,  256 
Sultan’s  Spring,  Jericho,  199 
“  Sun  Spring,”  208 
Sychar,  357, 385 
Syrians,  404 

Taanach, 135 


526 


INDEX. 


Taanuk,  135 
Tabariyeh,  319 
Tabernacle,  the,  226-228, 353 
Tabitha,  14, 16 

“Table  of  Christ,”  Nazareth,  154 
Tables  of  the  Law,  Tabernacle,  226 
Tacitus,  85,  125,  250 
Talitha  Kami,  Jerusalem,  444 
Talmud,  82,  86,  228,  388,  453,  474, 
478,  512 
Tanis,  105 
Tarichese,  321 
Tattooing,  8,  24 
Tayibeh, 336 
Tel  Jiljalia,  195 
Tel  Keimum,  134 
Tell  el-Kady,  430 
Tell  es  Safiyeh,  114 
Tell  ez  Zahara,  451 
Tell  Harah,  425 
Tell  Hum,  303, 308 
Tell  Jefat,  400 
Tell  Kliureibeh,  425 
Tell  Ma’  shuk,  415 
Tel  Jezer,  40 
Tekoa,  281,  283 
Tekoah,  283 
Tekua,  283 
Templars,  419,  423 
Temple,  Jerusalem,  220 
Temple  Hill,  Jerusalem,  458 
Temple  schools,  270 
Temple  of  Dagon,  116 
Temple  of  Herod,  Jerusalem,  229 
Temple  of  Solomon,  Jerusalem,  223, 
228 

Temple  of  Zerubbabel,  Jerusalem, 229 
Temptation  of  Christ,  202 
Tenth  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  487 
Tequa,  281 
Tersato,  154 
Teutonic  Knights,  405 
“The  Beautiful  Gate,”  Jerusalem, 
231 

“  The  Friend,”  97 
“  The  Holy  Mountain,”  433 
The  Land  and  the  Book,  40 
The  Solitude,  275 
“  The  Well  of  the  Oath,”  102 
“  The  Well  of  the  Seven,”  102 
Thenius,  Dr.  Otto,  454 
Third  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  Jerusalem,  485 
Thirteenth  Station  of  the  Way  of 
the  Cross,  Jerusalem,  487 
Thistles,  424 


Thompson,  Dr.  Joseph  P.,  9,  15 
Thomson,  Dr.  William  M.,  40,  64,  96, 
114, 120,  202,  256, 260, 262,  265,  287, 
312,  320,  325,  425,  449,  451 
Thothmes  III.,  91 
Throne  of  Solomon,  Jerusalem,  511 
Thyra  Horaia,  474 
Tiberias,  316 
Tibneh,  350 

Tiglath-pileser,  428,  429 
Tigranes,  404 
Tinmath-serah,  350 
Tirzah,  366 

Titus,  Roman  general,  185,  212,  238, 
248,  312,  321,  461,  491 
Tomb  of  Absalom,  Jerusalem,  468 
Tomb  of  Hiram,  Tyre,  415 
Tomb  of  Jehoshaphat,  Jerusalem, 468 
Tomb  of  Kalba  Sabua,  Jerusalem, 450 
Tomb  of  St.  James,  Jerusalem,  469 
Tomb  of  Simon  the  Just,  Jerusalem, 
450 

Tomb  of  the  Judges,  Jerusalem,  448 
Tombs  of  the  Kings,  Jerusalem, 
253, 449 

Tomb  of  the  Prophet  David,  Jeru¬ 
salem,  445 

Tomb  of  the  Prophets,  Jerusalem, 
467 

Tomb  of  the  Sanhedrin,  Jerusalem, 
450 

Tomb  of  Zachariah,  Jerusalem,  469 
Tophet,  445 

Tower  of  Antonia,  Jerusalem,  236, 

247 

Tower  of  Baris,  Jerusalem,  235,  247 

Tower  of  David,  Jerusalem,  248 

Tower  of  Drusus,  121 

“Tower  of  Eder,”  73 

Tower  of  Hippicus,  Jerusalem,  236, 

248 

Tower  of  Hoglah,  197 
Tower  of  Mariamne,  Jerusalem,  238 
Tower  of  Phasaelus,  Jerusalem,  236, 
248 

Tower  of  Prephinus,  Jerusalem,  236 
Tower  of  Ramleh,  36 
“  Tower  of  the  flock,”  73 
“  Tower  of  the  Forty  Champions,” 
Ramleh,  39 

“Tower  of  the  Forty  Martyrs,” 
Ramleh,  38 

Triple  Gate,  Jerusalem,  473 
Tristram,  Canon  Henry  B.,  35,  57, 
59, 137, 183,  186,  1S7,  189,  192,  199, 
202,  222,  250,  256,  260,  276,  277, 
287,  291,  304,  354,  425,  434 


INDEX. 


527 


True  Cross,  the,  241 
Tuleil  el  Ful,  322 

Twelfth  Station  of  the  Way  of  the 
Cross,  487 
Tyre,  30,  410 
Tyrian  purple,  404 
Tyropeon  Valley,  219,  448,  472 

Umm  Rush,  49 

Universal  Israelitish  Alliance,  11 
Um-Keis,  183 
Upper  Beth  Horon,  48 
Upper  City,  Jerusalem,  220 
Upper  Pool  of  Gihon,  Jerusalem, 
253,  444 
Urtas,  281 
Uzziah,  114,  232 

Vale  of  Acacias,  115 
Vale  of  Elah,  115 
Vale  of  Shechem,  360 
Valley  of  Doves,  314 
Valley  of  Giants,  61 
Valley  of  Gihon,  218,  444 
Valley  of  Hinnorn,  213,  219,  444 
Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  213, 218 
Valley  of  Our  Lady  Mary,  213 
Valley  of  Rephaiin,  61 
Valley  of  Roses,  61 
Valley  of  the  Brook  Kedron,  213 
Valley  of  the  Cheesemakers,  219 
Valley  of  the  Children  of  Groaning, 
445 

Valley  of  Urtas,  283 
Valley  Street,  Jerusalem,  486 
Van  de  Velde,  59,  125,  360,  367 
Venerable  Bede,  82 
Venus,  Philistine,  113 
Vespasian,  Roman  general,  14,  97, 
126,  186,  201,  238,  318,  324,  348, 400 
Via  Dolorosa,  Jerusalem,  482,  484, 
487 

Village  of  the  Virgin,  99 

Virgil,  410 

Virgin  Mary,  459 

Viri  Galilaei,  212 

Virgin’s  Spring,  Jerusalem,  470 

Volney,  de,  Constantine  F.  C.,  112 

Wady  Amud,  305 
Wady  el  Hod,  208 
Wady  el  Rababi,  213 
Wady  el  Werd,  61 
Wady  Esh-col,  98 
Wady  es  Sunt,  115 
Wady  Fik,  324 
Wady  Hainam,  305,  314 


Wady  Kelt,  205 
Wady  Khureitun,  281 
Wady  Rubudiyeh,  305 
Wady  Semakh,  323 
Wady  Sitti  Mariam,  213 
Wady  Suweinit,  335 
Wady  Ta’  amirah,  281 
Wady  Yabes,  185 
Walla  in  Palestine,  206 
Warren,  Sir  UC.,  31,  224,  260,  261, 
289 

“  Washing  the  feet,”  501 
Waters  of  Merom,  33,  171 
Water-supply  of  Jerusalem,  250 
Way  of  Sorrows,  Jerusalem,  482 
Weil  of  Abraham,  104 
“  Well  of  David,”  71 
Well  of  Isaac,  104 
Wely  Ma’  shuk,  415 
Wilderness  of  Judea,  275 
Wilderness  of  Sliur,  31 
William  of  Tyre,  414 
White  Fortress,  114 
White  Synagogue,  308 
White  Tower,  Ramleh,  38 
Wilson,  Sir  Charles,  248,  305,  324, 
383,  425,  451 

Wilson’s  Arch,  Jerusalem,  223,  482 
Winter  Brook,  458 
“  Wise  Men,”  81,  85 
Wordsworth,  William,  161 

Xystus,  481 

Yalo,  50,  60 
Yapho,  15 
Yarrnuk,  the,  169 
Yazur,  44 

Zaohariah,  90,  96,  469 
Zaccheus,  200 
Zadoc,  priest,  254 
Zahir  el  Omar,  406 
Zakkam,  199 
Zalmunna,  139, 188 
Zarephath,  416 
Zealots,  237,  238, 314 
Zeba,  139, 188 
Zedekiah,  199 
Zeeb  the  Wolf,  139 
Zerin,  147 

Zerubbabel,  13,  72, 368 

Zibiah,  105 

Zimri,  147 

Zion  Gate,  472 

Zoan,  Egypt,  91,  105, 191 

Zohar,  92 


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